Uncharted Territory
by SpringHiller09
Summary: Edward's life is picture perfect and Bella is barely able to pull herself together. Senior year starts and Edward suddenly has the desire to get to know her better, but doing that is going to be a lot harder than he had thought. All EPOV. ON HOLD. Sorry Guys.
1. Everybody's Got a Story

**Chapter One: Everybody's Got a Story**

* * *

I wasn't usually one to brag, but by the time senior year started I felt that I was finally allowed. I had the straight A's everyone worked for, the friends everyone wanted, and the girlfriend everyone wished they had. It also helped that my dad was the Chief at the hospital and my mom owned one of the most successful stores in town. I was living comfortably to say the least.

I pulled into the school parking lot in my new car and felt like a king. Sure, there were kids who had gotten a car for their sixteenth birthday and I had just gotten this as an early graduation/birthday present. It was just nice not to have to drive the mom mobile around town and to not have to rely on Emmett for a ride to school.

I parked in the spot next to where Emmett parks and pulled the keys out of the ignition. I unbuckled by seatbelt and got out of the car just as I heard someone's obnoxious car horn. I laughed when I looked and saw Emmett pulling into the lot, trying way too hard to be cool.

"Nice car, bro." Emmett eventually said as he inspected it. "I didn't picture you as a...Volvo guy though."

"I didn't get to pick it." I shrugged. If I had my choice, I probably would have gone for something a little less preppy and clean. But, a car was a car and I knew this car was safe which made my mom happy. "But, at least I don't have to drive the mom mobile around anymore.

"Amen!" Emmett laughed as I turned and saw Rosalie's car pulling into the lot. Emmett began to drool just a bit, and I had to nudge him. Even though him and Rosalie had been dating for over a year, he was still drooling all over her. I laughed at him every time, but he just said he couldn't help it.

I smiled when I saw the passenger door open. She was beautiful, but today was somehow different. She got out and looked over to meet my gaze. She smiled as she slung her bag over her shoulders and made her way over to me.

"Hey, you." She whispered as I bent down and brushed my lips over hers.

Tanya and I started dating at the end of our freshman year. We had known each other practically our entire lives since her dad helped my mom buy the store, and we had always just been friends. I mean, I always liked her and I'm pretty sure she'd always liked me, but it wasn't until Emmett dared me to ask her on a date when I finally got the balls to make a move.

Thankfully, she said yes and I didn't have to live through Emmett tormenting me that I'd been rejected. From that date at the pizza place, we had been almost inseparable.

"You guys literally saw each other a week and a half ago." Rosalie scolded as she moved towards Emmett. Tonya has been on a bunch of college visits on the east coast, which meant we were spending more time apart. With our family vacations, and all of our visits we hardly saw each other over break.

"It was a long ten days." I defended as I laced my fingers through hers and we made our way inside. We'd almost gotten inside when we heard the harsh engine of a beat up red truck. I turned and saw her parking the truck at the far side of the parking lot.

"She should really get that thing fixed." Emmett noted as Tonya tugged on my arm to pull me inside. "It really doesn't sound safe."

"Please, you think she has the money to get it fixed." Rosalie laughed. Rosalie was a good person and she was one of my best friends. But, sometimes she could really be a brat. In her defense, though, her home life was not a good one. Her dad was a high up lawyer who was hardly ever home and her mother didn't hide that she liked a drink...all the time.

"Rosalie," I said gently. If I was being honest, I was kind of the odd ball out in my circle of friends. Sometimes, my friends didn't have a very good filter and I always felt bad when they started picking on people like Bella who didn't have very much money. In Forks, you either had a lot of money, or barely any money. There really wasn't much of an in between.

"It is true." Rosalie defended, but shrugged her shoulders in apology.

"Where the hell is Jasper?" Emmett asked exasperated as he slammed his locker shut. Emmett, Jasper, and I had been best friends since sixth grade when Jasper's family moved her from Seattle. When we sat with him, we kind of just wanted to find out why anyone with good money would willingly move to Forks. We got our answer, but from then on we were the three amigos.

Literally we went as the three amigos for a Halloween party in eighth grade.

"Probably making out with Alice." Tanya giggled as she settled herself against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her from behind and held her protectively. I wasn't sure what we were going to do after graduation, but we promised we would figure it out. She wanted to follow in her mothers footsteps and become a zoologist one day.

Her top choice of school was Cornell, which was good because it was relatively close to Boston which was where Harvard was.

It was kind of a right of passage for me to go to Harvard. My great grandfather, grandfather, and father went there and if I didn't, I would be breaking some sort of code they had. Don't get me wrong, I loved Harvard and I was excited for it, but sometimes I wished I could just go anywhere I wanted and be anything I wanted.

Harvard Med School was the next step after college graduation.

From high school all the way to med school my future had been planned out for me before I was even born. I was a Cullen man and Cullen men went to Harvard and became doctors. I had accepted that was my future and I was okay with that. But, as I heard everyone talk about schools and majors and dream jobs, I wished I at least had the choice of Harvard and being a doctor.

"There they are!" Emmett shouted as Alice and Jasper finally waltzed in the door. They got lucky this time because they actually had two minutes to spare for the bell rang and the school locked the front doors.

"Where have you two been?" Rosalie poked as her and Tonya went to her locked with her.

"Jasper?" I asked when he couldn't stop grinning at us. "What did you do?"

"We did it." He said excitedly as he opened his locker. "Like she came over last night and we were making out and then...we did it."

"Way to go." Emmett congratulated as he clapped him on his back. I was a little surprised since they'd only been dating for six months, but they seemed to really care about each other. "Was it good?"

"Hell yeah it was good." Jasper nodded.

"Weren't your parents home?" I asked. Jasper's parents weren't strict, but I know they didn't let him and Alice in his room with the door shut.

"Nope they had to make an emergency trip to Seattle." He explained. Jasper's family moved here when his mom got tired of the city life and the traffic and the noise. His fathers company though was still in Seattle, and he worked from hime to keep it going.

"Our little Jazzy is all grown up." Emmett mocked as he pretended to wipe his eyes of fake tears. "Now we just gotta get Edward laid."

"Emmett!" I scowled. But, he had a point. Believe me, I wanted to have sex with Tanya, but she wasn't ready yet. I tried not to push her, but she continued to tell me she didn't know when she'd be ready and to be patient with her.

"Excuse me." I heard an annoyed voice said from behind me. I turned and saw Bella standing there, looking more angry than normal. "This is my locker!" She spat and I apologized and stepped away.

She was one of the people in this school that I just couldn't figure out. She had moved here freshman year and hadn't made any attempt to make friends. The only person I'd ever seen her with was Jacob, who technically didn't even go to this school. When he wasn't around, she kept to herself and skipped more class than anyone could count. She never wore any color and kind of looked like she was going to a funeral everyday.

"She needs to get a grip." Jasper sighed as we walked away towards our separate homerooms. Alice was the only one in my homeroom, and it was really hard not to just stare and smile at her.

"Get a grip, Edward." She sighed as she sat down next to me. "I know you know that we had sex last night."

"Sorry," I laughed as our homeroom teacher came in and sat down at her desk. She took attendance and we listened to the daily announcements before being let go to our first period class. I didn't know whose brilliant idea it was to put AP Chemistry first period, but I headed to the science wing of the building.

I took my seat next to Tanya and behind Jasper and took my three subject notebook out of my bag. Emmett walked in just as the bell rang and smiled as he sat down next to me. Emmett was one of the smartest athletes in the school, but he was also one of the laziest. Sometimes I didn't know how they let him take as many AP classes that he was.

We were starting to get to the good stuff in chemistry, so the time didn't pass as slow as it sometimes did. The morning went pretty quickly and I was happy when the lunch bell finally rung. Since my computer class was right next to the cafeteria, I beat most everyone there.

I set my bag at the table we always sat at and headed up to the line. Today I was regretting not taking my moms offer to pack me a lunch since it was fish sticks or a dry hamburger. I took my chances with the burger and went to grab a drink.

"Four dollars for some greasy fish sticks and a bottle of water?" Bella asked as she stood in front of the cashier. "That's bullshit."

"I'm sorry, sweetie, but there isn't anything I can do." The lady apologized.

"Fuck this." Bella cursed as she started to storm off.

"Hold up!" I called and fished my wallet out of my pocket. "For hers and mine, please." I said as I gave the lunch lady a ten. She thanked me and gave me my one dollar change. I grabbed the tray Bella abandoned and walked over to hand it to her. The cafeteria was beginning to fill up, and she looked at me like I was an alien.

"Why?" She asked as she took the tray from me. "I don't need your charity."

"It was just a favor, Bella." I shrugged.

"I'll pay you back." She tried to argue.

"It's fine. Four dollars isn't a big deal." I told her.

"Yeah, for a rich boy like you with her doctor dad." She snarled and stormed away. I stood there, unsure what to do exactly until someone shoved into me. I saw that it was Jasper and I followed him back to the table. I watched as Bella sat down by herself on the far side of the cafeteria. She pulled out her book and pushed the tray away from her.

I really did just wanted to help, but now I felt like I'd offended her or something.

* * *

"You okay?" Tanya asked as she laced her fingers through mine at the end of the day. For the life of me, I couldn't stop thinking about what Bella had said. I assumed that her family didn't have a lot of money, but she couldn't even afford her lunch.

"Yeah," I lied as I walked her to my locker. "I just have a lot of work to do."

"I don't have to come over." Tanya said shyly as I dropped her hand to open my locker. "We can hang out tomorrow."

"It's fine, babe." I smiled. She kissed my cheek before walking away towards her locker. Just as I was putting the books I needed into my bag, I felt someone slam into me from behind. Assuming it was Emmett or Jasper, I smiled smugly as I turned around to shove them back.

"Here." Bella barked as she dug into her pocket, pulling out a crumpled up dollar bill. "Consider it the start of my payment."

"I told you it's okay." I shrugged, holding my arm out trying to give her the money back.

"Don't ever fucking pay for something for me again." She snarled, and I could practically see steam coming out of her ears. "I fucking mean it." She seethed and stormed away. I watched as she walked away, really confused of what was happening.

"What the hell?" Emmett asked as he came up from behind me. I turned and just shrugged my shoulders. I figured she didn't want the entire world knowing she couldn't pay for lunch, so I just kept my mouth shut. "You must have looked at her wrong."

"Yeah," I whispered. "Have fun at practice!" I called as I walked down the hall towards Tanya's locker. I met Tanya and grabbed her bag and wrapping my arm around her shoulders. We walked to my car, and I threw our bags in the back as she got in the passengers side.

The drive home wasn't long since I only lived a couple miles away from school. Mom's car was in the driveway since it was her day off from the store, and I knew Dad wouldn't be home for the rest of the afternoon. Not only was I crazy about Tanya, but my entire family loved her as well.

Sometimes I felt like they liked her more than me.

"Mom!" I called as I put my keys on the hook near the door to the garage. I could smell something good and closed my eye to take it all in. She was a good cook, but I really loved when she had the day off. Her meals were always better on those days.

"Hey, kiddos." She smiled as we walked into the kitchen. "Tanya, are you staying for dinner?"

"Sure," She smiled as I grabbed a root beer and bottle of water from the fridge.

"We're going up to my room." I told her as Tanya stood up and walked in front of me.

"Please try and get some work done before your dad gets home." Mom pleaded as we walked up the stairs. I loved my dad and we had a really good relationship. But, sometimes he was really hard on me and put a lot of pressure on me. I knew he did it because he cared and wanted me to have a good future, but sometimes I wished I just had a normal dad that was proud of everything I did.

"Wanna work on chem?" I asked when we got up to my room and shut my door. My parents trusted us enough to let me have privacy with her when she was here. I was grateful for that.

"That's fine." She nodded as she sat down on my bed and I sat in my desk chair. We worked on chemistry until the sun began setting and then I started my reading for AP English. While I worked on that, I could feel her eyes on me and I looked up from Brave New World. I smiled when our eyes met and she tried playing it off that she hadn't been staring at me.

"What?" I smiled, shutting my book and standing up to walk over to the bed.

"You're just cute when you're focused." She shrugged as I sat down next to her.

"Yeah?" I asked as I moved closer to her. Our lips met gently, and she wrapped her hands around my neck and roughly pulled me closer. I put my hands on her hips, unsure of what to do since she'd never really kissed me with this much urgency before.

She grabbed my shirt and pulled me down and then she threw her one leg over my hips and straddled me. My eyes flew wide open when she did that and I realized we needed to stop. She had never done that before, and even if she was ready I sure as hell wasn't going to take her virginity now with my mom downstairs.

"Tan," I mumbled as she peppered my neck with kisses. "What are you doing?"

"Jazz and Alice did it." She whispered. "We know Rose and Emmett do it constantly." She reminded me. "So, lets stop waisting time and just do it."

"Baby, no." I said and pushed her up. I could see the hurt in her eyes as she got off of me and stood up. She straightened her sweater and I sat up on my bed. "Tanya, I want this to be special for you. I want it to be romantic and corny with candles and flowers. Not here while we're trying to do homework with my mom cooking downstairs."

"I'm sorry." She sniffled.

"What's gotten into you?" I asked gently as I stood up and grabbed her hands.

"I don't know," She shrugged. "I just keep saying that I'm not ready and I don't know what that even means anymore. Like how do you know when you're ready?"

"I think only you know that." I whispered. "If you think you're ready that awesome, but I'm going to wait until you know for sure."

"I don't deserve you." She sighed as she rested her head on my chest.

"Sure ya do." I laughed as I rubbed her back. Eventually, I knew I had to get back to work so I let her go and sat back down at my desk. I finished my reading just as the garage door went up and I secretly sighed in relief. I was almost done with my homework, so my dad wouldn't really be able to give me a hard time.

Tanya and I went downstairs where my parents were both waiting in the kitchen. Dad said hello to the both of us and went upstairs to change. We sat down at the dining room table as mom put the food onto plates and set it in front of us. Dad came back down and we dug in.

Finally, after Tanya and I finished our AP World Government homework, it was time to take her home. We jumped in the car and made our way across town to where her house was. Her house was quite big with how small her family was. For only four of them, they had six bedrooms and too many bathrooms.

I walked her to the door, gave her a kiss and walked back to my car. I watched as she opened the front door and went inside. I put the keys back in the ignition and started my car. I turned off her street and drove towards the poorer side of town before turning around.

I drove past the school on my drive home and noticed Bella's truck sitting in the parking lot. I was tempted to turn into the lot and and see what she was up to. But, after today I figured she didn't really want me hanging around her so I just ignored it.

Suddenly, I was very determined to figure her out before we graduated and went our separate ways.


	2. Ain't Always Pretty

**Chapter Two: Ain't Always Pretty**

* * *

The next week passed by pretty slowly. The beginning of school was usually just notes and homework, but it wasn't much work. It wouldn't be until early October that everything would start to catch up with us. But, I wasn't complaining because it meant that I could spend more time with Tanya and my friends without my dad breathing down my neck.

"Edward?" Mr. Levy asked as I sat down in homeroom. "Principle Barnes wants to see you after homeroom is over." I nodded my head and pulled our my planner to see what all I had to do that day.

"What's that about?" Alice asked as she sat down next to me. I just shrugged and waited for homeroom to be finished. When the bell rang, I headed down the hall to the office and sat down in the small seating area before he called me in.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked when he finally came to get me. He shook his head no and I sighed in relief. I didn't think I would be, but there was always a chance I guess. I sat down in one of the uncomfortable seats across from his big leather chair.

"Edward, you know that you are one of our top students here." He stated and I nodded. I hoped he wasn't pulling me out of chem so he could tell me what I already knew. "But, your resume is lacking a bit."

"What? Why?" I asked. I was in multiple clubs, our class president and was captain of the baseball team. And I'd had straight A's since freshman year and hadn't missed a day of school.

"It's just your electives I'm worried about." He said.

"I have two this semester." I shrugged. "I don't have time for electives, sir."

"I know that you have your hands full with AP and your after school activities." He said. "But, you already have your gym and computer credits to be able to graduate. And you're taking those classes."

"It's a different computer class than I've taken before." I shrugged, which was true.

"I know, but I would still strongly advise you to drop one or both of them and try a completely different class." He said. "An art class wouldn't hurt to have."

"An art class?" I asked, trying not to twist my face in confusion. "I'm not very artsy."

"Most of the kids in these classes aren't." He smiled. "Now, since we are three weeks into school, most of them are full."

"So what's the point in telling me all of this?"

"There are a few classes with openings." He said, handing me a list.

 _Music Theory_

 _Drama_

 _Chorus_

"These are my only options?" I asked disappointed. It would have been at least kind of cool if I could learn to play the guitar or something.

"I'm afraid so."

"And these will look good and help me getting into Harvard?" I asked and he nodded. I couldn't sing and music theory sounded worse than _Art History_. "I think I'll do Drama."

"Excellent." He smiled. "You'll go to computer today and then you'll switch to Drama on Monday." He told me and I just nodded. He let me go and I walked down towards the science hall. I gave the teacher my note and my friends gave me a confused look. I waved them off, not wanting to talk about it yet.

The morning passed by slowly and since we had a quiz in computer, I asked if I could leave early. I went to the bathroom and then headed to the cafeteria after I grabbed my brag bag from my locker. I could see Bella behind me, and without thinking I headed to the register.

"Hey, sweetie." The nice lunch land greeted as I went up to her. I fished out my wallet and handed her twenty five dollars. "For your account?"

"No Bella Swan's." I said. "Is that allowed?"

"Not usually, but I'll do this for you." She smiled and winked at me.

"Don't tell her I did this." I pleaded and she nodded. Bella came into the line and I practically ran to the table. People were beginning to file into the cafeteria. I watched carefully as she went up to the cashier and punched in her account number. She looked almost stunned when the lunch lady told her she was good to go. I smiled to myself as Emmett and Rosalie came and sat down.

"What are you grinning about?" Rosalie asked when Emmett went up to get his food.

"Nothing," I lied as I looked down at the salad my mom made me. The other three came and sat down, and while I tried to be engaged in the conversation I just wasn't into it today. Until Rosalie mentioned Bella's name. Then my ears perked up.

"What, Rose?" I asked curiously since I hadn't heard anything but her name.

"I heard she's screwing Mike and he's paying her for it." She smiled smugly as she took a bite of her orange. "But, she's probably doing that with more than just him."

"You shouldn't be spreading that, Rosalie." Tanya whispered sheepishly and I couldn't have agreed more.

"Mike's the one who was blabbing about it in Psyc." She shrugged like it was no big deal. "And if she didn't want that kind of thing getting around, maybe she shouldn't get around."

"That's enough!" I yelled, slamming my fist down on the table. Everyone got quiet and stared up at me and I could feel my cheeks warming in embarrassment.

"Dude," Jazz shook his head as I looked at Rosalie who was scowling at me.

"It's just not our business what she's doing." I whispered. "Just keep out of the gossip chain." Tanya reached out and grabbed my hand. I looked over at her and she was smiling like she was almost proud or happy that I'd stuck up for Bella like that.

Rosalie didn't speak for the rest of the lunch period and I was happy when the bell rang for fifth period. It my only blowoff class, and all I had to do change and show up. Gym was also nice because none of the girls were there, so Emmett, Jasper, and I could just be without hearing about clothes or make up or shit.

"Edward," Emmett said after I'd changed and started heading out of the locker room.

"I'm sorry I yelled at her, but she shouldn't be talking about people like that." I shrugged. "I'll apologize if you want me to."

"Oh, I was just gonna ask if you wanted to throw the football around today." He grinned stupidly. "She kind of did deserve it."

"Oh," I said sheepishly. "Yeah, I can grab us a ball."

* * *

When school was over, I had never been more happy for the weekend to finally be here. It hadn't been a hard week as far as school was concerned, but it was just plain weird. Rosalie refused to even look at me the rest of the day and since she wasn't speaking to me, Emmett most likely wouldn't be coming with us that night.

Which sucked.

I headed to my car and pressed my eye brows together when I saw something green in my windshield wipers. When I picked it up, it was a one dollar bill.

"What?" I asked, looking around to see if anyone was trying to prank me or something.

"What did I tell you before?" I heard a familiar voice growl from behind me, making me jump. I turned around and saw Bella standing there looking angrier than ever. "I don't want your fucking charity."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mysteriously had a lot more money in my account at lunch than I ever had before." She raised her eye brow. "Know anything about that?"

"Nope." I lied, but it was clear that she could see right through me. "Bella,"

"I'm not a charity case. Leave me the fuck alone and keep your damn money." She yelled and stormed off. Before anyone could come and ask any questions, I got in my car and drove away. I just didn't understand her. Just because I was being nice didn't mean I was trying to make her my charity case. I loaned Emmett money all the time and he never wined about it.

But Emmett had money. He just never seemed to have his wallet, and a lot of the time he made up for it and paid for me the next time we were out. Bella didn't have money to begin with.

And then I felt bad.

When I got home, the house was empty. I went inside and plopped down on the couch, excited for some downtime. To make my Dad happy, I never really did anything after school until my work was done and most nights, I wasn't finished until close to 11:00, and I was too tired to watch TV. I flipped through the channels, finally settling on a nonie I'd never seen that was on HBO.

But, I didn't really pay attention to it. I was suddenly feeling very guilty about giving that money to Bella when she was very clear that she didn't want my help. And then I felt bad for what Mike and Rose were spreading around school. I never wanted to be the bad guy or the ass who was just spending money like it grew on trees.

I really did just want to help.

When the garage door went up, I knew it was my dad since he usually had Friday evenings off and it was my Mom's busy night. I wondered if he knew anything about the Swans.

"Hi, son." He sighed as he came upstairs. "How was school?"

"Principle Barns told me I needed to pick a different elective to make my application look better." I told him. "He told me I needed more of a variety."

"What'd you pick?" He asked, shedding his jacket and sitting in the arm chair adjacent to the couch where I was sitting.

"Drama." I shrugged. "It seemed like the least boring out of all of them." I explained. "He told me I could switch after Christmas if spots in different classes opened up."

"If it's for the best, I think its great you switched." Of course he did. "Your Mom told me she didn't have a chance to make anything for dinner, so I was gonna order pizza if you're planning on being here."

"Okay," I nodded. "Dad?"

"What?" He sighed. I knew how tired he was on Fridays, but I was really curious.

"Do you know anything about the Swan's?" I asked and he tilted his head at me and seemed really confused. "Bella couldn't afford to pay for her lunch the other day."

"Oh," He nodded. "Sorry, Edward, I don't really know anything except that her mother didn't come with them when they moved. They're a pretty private family."

"Yeah, I got that much." I snorted. "She thought I was treating her like my charity case."

"I know you were just trying to be nice, but I think you should just stay away from her."

"W-what?" I stuttered. My father never told me who I could or could not hang out with. "Why?"

"I don't get a goo vibe from them." He told me, and I could hear the sternness in his voice. "I don't want her derailing your life."

"It was just lunch, Dad."

"I'm serious, Edward." He said, his face turning a light shade of red. I nodded reluctantly, not wanting to cause a fight. He went upstairs and I slumped back down in the couch. I picked my phone up and found Tanya's number and pressed the call button.

"Hey," She said, sounding happy. "What's up?"

"What do you wanna do tonight?" I asked. We usually had plans before we left school, but I left before I could see her to talk.

"I made plans with Rose earlier this week." She said in almost a whisper. "I think Emmett's coming so you can obviously come."

"Ugh," I groaned. I did not want to deal with Rosalie, but I also wanted to see my girlfriend. I reluctantly agreed and went upstairs to change. Knowing them, we would be just getting something to eat and they'd drag us to see a movie neither of us wanted to see. I told my dad where I was going and he reminded me of my curfew.

I couldn't wait until November when I turned eighteen and didn't have to deal with a curfew.

I grabbed my keys off my dressed and headed for the garage. When I passed the school, I saw Bella's car parked again and letting my curiosity get the better of me, I turned left into the parking lot. I parked a few spaces from her beat up truck and unbuckled my seatbelt.

I waled cautiously over to her car, and looked in the window. She was laying down in the tiny backseat with Pride and Prejudice in her hands. I lightly tapped on the window, and she flinched. She sat up and gave me dagger eyes. She got out of the car faster than I'd ever seen anyone move and she was actually a little bit scary.

"The fuck are you doing?" She barked as she swatted me with her beat up book. "Are you stalking me?"

"I was driving this way and saw your car!" I defended. "I'm not stalking you!"

"Well stay the fuck away from me!" She yelled. "Seriously or I'll get a restringing order."

"Are you sleeping in your car?" I blurted out and her brown eyes got wide again. "Sorry,"

"Mind your damn business." She mumbled. "And for your information, no I'm not. My house is loud so I come here when I need space."

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'll leave you alone."

"Why do you care?" She asked as I turned to make my way to my car. "If I have money for lunch or if I'm sleeping in my car?"

"Everyone deserves to have a decent lunch and no one should be sleeping in a car." I shrugged. "Especially not in Forks." And with that, I opened my door and started the engine. She was still standing where I left her, looking really confused when I put my car into drive and pushed the gas pedal.

I picked up Tanya and we headed in the direction of Port Angeles. Since Forks was so small, we usually tried to keep away on the weekend since we were trapped there all week while we were in school. Sometimes, the small town life was nice and comforting. Other times, it was just a hassle living there since we had to drive an hour to do anything fun on the weekend.

I couldn't wait to be in Boston.

We met Rosalie and Emmett at the movie theatre, and the girls had already decided that we were seeing The Danish Girl. I looked at Emmett and he just shrugged as he pulled his wallet out and gave Rosalie the money for tickets. Rosalie just scowled at me while she was in line with Tanya, and I tried to ignore it.

"I did apologize in school." I sighed to Emmett who was just looking around obliviously. "Emmett."

"Sorry. What?" He asked.

"Is Rosalie gonna be pissed at me forever or is she just going to get over it?" I asked. "I mean, I apologized."

"I don't know, man." He shrugged. "I mean, you know how well she can hold a grudge and you embarrassed her."

"I didn't mean to." I whispered.

"Yeah, and she knows that. But she also knows that by giving you the cold shoulder it's gonna annoy you and make you feel bad." He explained. "Which is what she wants. So just ignore it and she'll get bored."

"You sure?"

"How do you think I've gotten off the hook for everything I've done?" He laughed as the girls started walking towards us. They handed us the tickets, that didn't have The Danish Girl on them.

"Go ahead and have a bromance night." Tanya giggled. "I remembered you really wanted to see that." She said and it was true. The Revenant looked amazing. I bent down and kissed her cheek as Rosalie handed Emmett his ticket. We headed towards the hall where our theatre was and handed the employee our tickets.

The Revenant was just as amazing as it looked and I was really happy Tanya and Rosalie didn't make us see their movie with them. Chick flicks didn't bother me as much as they bothered Emmett, but it was still so much better seeing tho movie instead. By the time the girls got out of their movie, it was almost ten. Since I had a midnight curfew until mid-December, we had to leave here by 10:30 so I could get Tanya home.

"Ice creme?" Rosalie suggested as we stood in the the theaters lobby. Everyone agreed and we headed to the parking lot. I followed Emmett to the small ice creme shops not far from the theatre and parked.

"At least we know where she gets he clothes now." Rosalie laughed as she looked across the street. When I turned my head, I saw Bella coming out of a Good Will with a small bag in her hands.

"She reads a lot." I pointed out and they looked at me like I was crazy. "I think anyway. Second hand books are a lot cheaper than at a book store."

"She still can't afford it." Rose shrugged. I bit my tongue, wanting to tell her off but then I knew I'd only make things worse. I watched as Bella turned to go down an alley, and I wondered if it was actually safe for her. But, before I could do anything, Tanya was pulling me inside.

When we had finished our ice creme, Emmett and Rosalie decided they were going to stay in Port Angeles for a while, so Tanya and I headed out. We stayed quiet on the drive home, and for the first time it felt kind of awkward. That was a first for us, but I wasn't going to dwell on it.

"You okay?" I asked when I parked in her driveway. I turned the car off and turned to look at her and she was just staring at her hands. "Tan?"

"I just don't want this to end." She whispered, finally looking up at me. Her eyes were glistening in the little bit of light that was pouring into the car, and I saw a tear streaming down her cheek. "High school."

"Why would you not want high school to end?" I asked, trying not to laugh. Most people, myself included, couldn't wait for graduation so we could get away.

"I don't want to leave you." She admitted and I closed my eyes, trying not to look hurt. "I'm excited for college, but I can't imagine not doing things with you every weekend. And not seeing you everyday..."

"We have Skype for a reason, baby."

"It isn't the same." She cried as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. She curled into my side the best she could with the gears in between us. I just held her as she cried, and I tried my best to keep it together, needing to be strong for her.

It was the first time that being a senior and leaving Forks High was really starting to sink in.


	3. When the Days Are Cold

**Chapter Three: When the Days Are Cold**

* * *

When my alarm went off Monday morning, it was one of the few times I did not want to go to school. Every time I thought about school, I thought about Bella and what my dad said about her. I thought about her not being able to afford lunch and the possibility that she really was living in her car.

The entire thing just kind of gave me a headache now, and I didn't want to deal with it today.

It also didn't help that I was going to have to go to Drama today instead of my computer class. I just wasn't feeling it and I didn't think I could act. I knew how to work computers, so the class was an easy A. Now I had no idea what to expect, and they were already three weeks into the coarse. What if I'd missed a bunch of important stuff?

Finally, after the second time I pressed _SNOOZE_ , I rolled out of bed and went to my bathroom. I took a shower, and decided I didn't feel like getting dressed so I just grabbed one of my baseball t-shirts out of my drawer and a pair of jeans. I went downstairs and grabbed a bowel for my cereal just as my mom was coming down.

"Morning, baby." She practically sang as she grabbed her mug for her coffee. "You tired?"

"Yeah, I was up late studying for my AP English quiz." I shrugged. My mother always knew when I didn't sleep well or when I wasn't feeling good just by what I was wearing. It was weird sometimes. "But, I'm fine."

"Okay," She nodded as the coffee pot beeped. She poured herself a cup and then grabbed my travel mug out of the cupboard and handed it to me. I thanked her and the poured my own cut. I went upstairs to grab my bag and jacket before heading to my car. I said goodbye to my parents before going down the garage.

I pulled into the lot and smiled when I saw Tanya getting out of her own car. I pulled in next to her and watched as she smiled at me. I grabbed my coffee and bag and got out of the car.

"Tired?" She asked, pointing to my mug. I usually left my coffee at home, but since I'd had such a hard time getting up there wasn't anytime at home by the time it was ready.

"Yeah, I was studying for English." I shrugged as she grabbed my arm. We headed into school and went to our lockers before the rest of our friends arrived. However, I knew something was wrong when Rosalie and Emmett walked in seperately and refused to even look at each other.

"What'd you do?" I whispered as we stood at his locker with him.

He was fuming.

"All I told he was to stop being so emotional and just get over you yelling at her on Friday." He said exasperated. "Then she called me a dumb ass who would rather stick up for his friends than his girlfriend."

"And then you said something stupid. Didn't you?" Jasper asked, rolling his eyes.

"I told her bros before hoes." He whispered, and it's like he finally heard why it was so bad for him to say. "Crap,"

"That's good, Emmett." I laughed, clapping him on the back. "I've never seen you be that dumb with her before."

"I'll freaking apologize." He said as he slammed his locker shut. When the bell rang, we went to homeroom and then the morning went a lot quicker than I thought it would. I was dreading fourth period and for the first time, I wanted my time in Chem and Calc to go slowly.

I slowly walked out of my Calculus class and headed down the hall towards the art wing of the building. I had been down here for two classes, but that was my freshman year and they were required. And I don't even know if I'd considerer wood shop an art class.

I stopped in front of room 233 and kind of just stared. This was not where I wanted to be, but if it was worth taking for my Harvard application then it was something I was willing to do. I slowly pushed the door open and my eyes went wide when I saw Bella sitting in the third row of seats.

"Are you Mr. Cullen?" A teacher who I'd never seen asked. I looked away from Bella and turned towards him. I nodded my head and handed him my slip. "Well, welcome. Take a seat anywhere."

"Okay," I whispered and sat as far away from Bella as I could get. I really hoped she didn't think I was being creepy or did this on purpose to butt into her business. I could feel her glare on me from across the room. More people filed in, and I felt bad because I didn't really recognize anyone in this class except for Bella.

The bell rang and the teacher, Mr. Auburn, calmed everyone down.

"Well, we have someone new joining us today." He said and I could feel my face turning red. I didn't want to make a big deal out of this. "You haven't missed much, Mr. Cullen. Just a few techniques, but we can catch you up very easily."

"Yeah," I nodded my head, trying my hardest not to draw more attention to myself. Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of respect for the kids who got on stage for the plays and the musical, it just wasn't for me. I did not want to be here.

"So, today you will be getting your midterm assignment." Mr. Auburn started to explain and I was glad he wasn't putting anymore attention on me. "You will be getting your partner and your scene today and then you have until the end of December to perfect the scene.

"I will be pairing you with another person, and then one of you will pick blindly what scene you will be doing." He explained. "The scene could be from any play. Ranging from Shakespeare to Henrik Isben." He then went around the room, pairing people together and I could feel a lump in my throat when neither Bella or I were paired with anyone.

"Miss Swan, I want you to work with Mr. Cullen." He said and I shut my eyes tight.

"Mr. Auburn," She started to protest.

"Miss Swan, you are one of our most experienced students." He told her. "I want you to work with Mr. Cullen and teach him while you rehears with him. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." She signed and I could hear the reluctance in her voice. It isn't that I had a problem with her, but I knew she had a problem with me and that bothered me. Not because I wanted everyone to like me, but I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable or like I was out to get her.

"Mr. Cullen, would you like to pick from the hat for your scene?" He asked and I nodded. I put my hand in the hat and fished out a piece of paper. He grabbed it from me and smiled. "Balcony scene from Romeo and Julliet."

Crap.

"You've got to be shitting me..." Bella screeched.

"Miss Swan." He warned. She sat back down and crossed her arms over her chest.

When the bell rang, Bella stepped in front of me before I could leave. She glared at me for a few seconds before opening her mouth to speak. But, before she could say anything I spoke up.

"I didn't sign up for this class because I knew you were in it or something." I told her. "They said it would be good for my college application. I swear I had no clue you were in this class."

"Yeah, because Mr. Popular hasn't bothered to come to one of the school productions the entire time he's been here." She snorted, making me feel bad. It just honestly wasn't my thing and it certainly wasn't Emmett to Jasper's thing either. "Anyway, just don't fucking mess up."

"I..."

"This is the only class that I actually care about and I want to do well." She continued. "This is important to me, and it's my senior year. He gives really good parts in the schools plays to people who do really well on the midterm."

"Okay,"

"So take it seriously. It's not a joke." She told me. "You've read this play before right?"

"Multiple times." I assured her. "And I've seen it done before." I told her because my mom had dragged me to see it in Port Angeles with her in the ninth grade when she thought I needed to be more cultured. I was miserable the entire night.

"Woopie." She sighed. "I want you to go over the play tonight and especially the balcony scene." She told me. "Just try and think about who Romeo is and the real reason he went to Juliet's house that night. Just get a sense of who he is."

"I can do that." I told her.

"You better not screw this up." She seethed as she turned and bolted out of the room. I made my way to my locker and grabbed my books for that afternoon before going to the cafeteria. Everyone was already sitting down and I could tell Rose and Emmett hadn't made up quite yet.

"Where have you been, man?" Jasper asked when I came back with my food. "Isn't your class like right there?"

"Yeah, but I had to switch classes." I explained as I sat down next to Tanya. I gently kissed her before digging into my turkey sandwich. "They thought I needed to be more well rounded and they're making me take an art class."

"Really?" Alice giggled. "Which one."

"Drama," I answered after I'd hesitated. I could see Emmett trying to hold in his laugher but Tanya reached down and squeezed my knee in encouragement. That is one of the reasons I was so crazy about her. She knew that it was something I had to do and was going to support me no matter what.

"You'll be great." She assured me. "Do you just learn how to act?"

"Yeah, and for our midterm we have to do a scene from any play with a partner." I explained. "I got Romeo and Juliet."

"I am so sorry." Jasper said and I think he honestly was sorry for me.

"What scene?" Rosalie asked, surprising me since this was the first thing she'd said to me since Friday at lunch.

"The balcony scene." I whispered, hoping Tanya wouldn't get all weird.

"Oh?" She questioned. Yep, this was going to be weird with her. "Who's your partner?"

"Bella," I said sheepishly. I could see her eyes bugging out of her head, and I grabbed her hand. "It's just an assignment. It doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, but she's always looking for ways to ruin peoples lives!" She screamed and it surprised me. She was always willing to give the people the benefit of the doubt. "She's a slut and she's going to talk you into something."

"Tanya, you don't know if any of that is actually true." I reminded her, trying to keep my cool.

"I don't want you working with her." She said sternly and I had never actually been this upset at her before. "I don't trust her to keep her legs shut while you work together."

"Tanya," Emmett warned, knowing that saying something like that was really going to piss me off. "Stop."

"I don't want that slut working with you and I certainly don't want her kissing you!" She shouted, and the room quieted down. I could see Bella staring at us from across the lunchroom and I felt horrible. She stood up and stormed out of the room and I stood up, wanting to follow her.

"Tanya, what the hell is the matter with you?" I yelled as I turned to look at her. "You don't know if any of that crap they say about her is true. She's an easy target which is why people talk about her like they do."

"Then maybe she shouldn't be screwing anyone with money." Tanya said and I could have sworn she traded places with Rose. I looked in her direction, and even Rosalie looked stunned.

"Grow up, Tanya." I seethed as I grabbed my bag and walked outside. I looked around the hall, but she had already disappeared. Thinking of the only place she seemed to like, I headed towards the art wing. I saw her sitting at the piano in the drama room and gently pushed the door open.

"The fuck do you want?" She growled when she saw me standing there. "Isn't your girlfriend going to rip your balls off if you're caught with me."

"I want to apologize for her behavior." I whispered. "She's usually not like that, I don't know what got into her."

"That Rosalie Hale is what got into her." Bella said. "Rosalie has been out to get me since I moved to this damn town, and she's building her army one by one." She said and I kind of stared at her in surprise. She actually sounded really hurt that Rosalie didn't like her. She never seemed like someone who actually cared what people thought.

"Either way, I'm really sorry for that." I sighed. "You didn't deserve to be humiliated like that."

"Whatever."

"Do you want to practice here or somewhere else?" I asked after a long silence.

"Where else would we practice, pretty boy?" She asked.

"My house." I shrugged. "Or yours..."

"No fucking way are we going to my house."

"Okay, I'm fine with practicing here." I told her.

"No lets do it at your place." She smiled like she was planning something. "That'll make your little girlfriend realy angry."

"It's just an assignment." I shrugged. "She'll eventualy cool off an realize that."

"Lets hope for your relationship she does."

* * *

I did what Bella asked me that night and really thought about Romeo's character. I mean, I wanted to do well but I wasn't that desperate I guess. But this was really important to her and I didn't want to let her down. I did a little bit of research on the play and read through the balcony scene a few times.

Tanya had been trying to talk to me all afternoon, and I eventually just turned my phone off. I just couldn't believe she had been acting that way and it pissed me off. Not only was she being really mean and unfair, she wasn't trusting me. Even if everything they said about Bella was true, I was trustworthy. I'd never given her a reason to not trust me.

After I'd read and done everything I could for the play, I started my other homework. Since I'd taken so much time to do the drama stuff, it took me a lot longer to finish my work for my real classes and it wasn't until 1:00 that I was actually able to crawl into bed.

It was another difficult morning, and I just threw on another t-shirt and jeans, not bothering if I looked like a bum again. Mom told me she was getting worried, but I assured her I was fine. She poured me a cup of coffee while I was still eating my breakfast and reading over my AP Government notes. Once I was done, I poured myself another travel mug and headed out the door.

I didn't even look at Tanya when she pulled in with Alice that morning and headed straight for my locker. I saw Bella standing at hers, and decided that we were working on a project together so it was okay to talk to her at school. At least, I hoped she wouldn't get pissed at me again.

"I read over the scene a few times last night." I told her and she looked up. Her eyes were red and puffy, her cheeks looks tear stained. "Are you..."

"At least you can do one thing I ask you to do." She smiled cooly.

"And I did some research on Shakespeare and Romeo." I told her. I suddenly had this very strong urge to please her which was weird because I didn't even want to please Tanya this much.

"You didn't have to do that much." She told me. "I just wanted you to be familiar with it."

"What can I say? I'm an over achiever." I told her and I saw the corner of her mouth twitch. Almost like she wanted to smile, but then she decided against it. "I think we're going to kick butt on this midterm."

"Sure," She nodded and then she slammed her locker shut. "Later!" I watched as she walked down the hall and around the corner. When I turned around, I saw Tanya standing at my locker...giving me dagger eyes. I rolled my eyes and just avoided my locker all together.

I wasn't ready to deal with her yet.

"She was frustrated, Edward." Alice told me when she walked up to my desk in homeroom. "Give her a break."

"I'll talk to her later, Alice." I practically barked. I looked up and she just looked stunned. I felt bad for yelling at her, but people needed to mind their own business. I was finally beginning to understand why Bella was aggravated with me most of the time.

When the bell rang, I headed to chemistry. Tanya was already there and she looked at me with those puppy dogs eyes that always made me cave when she wanted something. This time though, it wasn't going to work.

"I'll talk to you later." I hissed when she continued to stare at me after the bell had rung. She nodded sadly and turned back towards the board.

I avoided her all morning until we would get a decent amount of time to talk. After drama, I made my way to my locker where she was waiting for me. I grabbed my things and then pulled her into a nearby janitors closet. I pulled the string that turned the small light on, and I could tell that she had been crying.

"Go ahead." I almost barked. I didn't know why I was being so mean to her, but I just couldn't help it. One of the reasons I liked her so much was because she was so accepting and never listened to the gossip people make up around here.

"I just got scared." She shrugged. "And then I remembered everything Rosalie and everyone else said about her and I just lost it."

"Okay it's fine if you don't trust her, but you should trust me, Tanya." I said cooly. "You should trust that I would never cheat on you with anyone. You should trust me when I say that this is really just an assignment."

"I do trust you."

"No you don't." I shook my head. "If you did trust me, you wouldn't have exploded like that."

"What can I say, Edward?" She asked, crossing her arms. "I'm an irrational girl who doesn't want you kissing some other girl."

"Do you even remember Romeo and Juliet?" I asked and she shook her head. "They don't even kiss until the death scene. We only talk during the balcony scene. I'm on the ground the entire time."

"Oh," She shrugged and looked embarrassed. "I really am sorry."

"I know you are." I finally sighed as I pulled her into me. She hugged me tightly and I kissed the top of her head. I didn't know what had gotten into us, but this hadn't been us. "Let's go eat."

"Okay," She nodded softly. I grabbed her arm before she could leave. I leaned down and gently brushed my lips against hers, reminding her that we were okay and that nothing was going to change.


	4. Nothing Goes as Planned

**Chapter Four: Nothing Goes as Planned**

* * *

With everything fixed with Tanya and our relationship back to normal, she was feeling more comfortable with me working with Bella. I kept having to remind her that it was just an assignment and that my feelings for her weren't going anywhere. She still didn't trust Bella, and I kind of understood that. But I was going to ruin what we had to go off and make out with someone I didn't even know.

The next day, Bella and I planned to work on the scene at my house. Even though the midterm wasn't until December, she wanted to get a start on things before baseball conditioning started in November and before I started tutoring in October.

"I can give you the address or you can just follow me." I told her as we walked out of drama that before lunch.

"I can follow you." She told me before she ran off towards her locker. I wished she would just talk to me and have a normal conversation. But, I was slowly learning that nothing was normal about Bella and I probably wouldn't get much out of her.

"Tyler told me that he finally had the chance to bang the infamous Bella Swan." Rosalie chirped as I sat down. I glared at her, but she just smirked. I didn't want to get into another fight and she knew that so she was just going to do what she wanted. "He said that he was helping to pay for her birth control so she wouldn't get knocked up."

"At least she's being a smart slut." Alice giggled and I just couldn't believe her. She had always been so sweet, but ever since Rosalie started listening more to the gossip train, Alice was joining in and becoming a bit more like Rosalie everyday. "People like her shouldn't have kids."

"I bet she's a pretty good lay." Emmett mused and Rosalie smacked his arm. "I'm just saying. If she wasn't good, then no one would want to screw her and they definitely wouldn't pay for it."

"Why is it so hard for you to all just mind your own damn business?" I asked and they all went silent. I never cursed. "Just leave her alone. No one has any idea what she's going through."

"Do you?" Tanya asked in a harsh tone. "How do you all of a sudden know her so well?"

"That's my point. No one knows what's going on in her life." I shrugged. "You wouldn't like it if people were talking about you."

"You have a point." Alice whispered as she looked at her food. For once, she seemed to feel bad for saying what she did and I was glad to see she still had a conscious.

We finished our lunch and I was starting to think I was a lot more different than I thought before. I finished my day and went to meet Tanya at my locker. She begged to come over and watch us practice, but I had to tell her no. This was the first time we'd be looking at it together and I didn't want her distracting either of us.

"Call me when she leaves." She whispered as I unlocked my door. I turned to see Bella standing at her truck and then Tanya grabbed my neck and pulled me down to her. She pushed me against the car and kissed me hard. She shoved her tongue in my mouth, making me moan against her lips.

"Wow," I gasped when she finally let go. She just smiled at me as she turned to walk away. I knew she was just being petty and claiming me as hers, but I was okay with that. She'd never kissed me like that before. I looked over and saw Bella sitting in her truck. I got in the car, started it and backed up.

Bella's truck was now behind me and I started the way to my house. I parked in the garage and waited for her to walk up my driveway. Once she was standing with me, I shut the garage door and opened the door to the house.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" I asked as I shed my sweatshirt and threw it on the coach. I noticed her looking around, and she almost seemed mesmerized. "Bella?"

"Huh?" She asked, putting her attention on me.

"Do you want anything to eat or drink?" I asked again.

"What do you have?" She asked, looking almost embarrassed.

"Follow me." I smiled as I went into the kitchen. I opened the pantry door and her face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. "Mom just went grocery shopping yesterday. We also have leftovers in the fridge."

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah, we had lasagna last night and my mom makes the best lasagna in Forks." I told her. "But, I think we have some roast in there from Sunday too."

"Okay," She nodded.

"You can help yourself to whatever." I told her as I grabbed a jar of peanut butter from the pantry and an apple off the counter. She opened the fridge and pulled out the dish mom made the lasagna in. I grabbed her a plate and a serving spoon so she could take as much as she wanted. I smiled when she grabbed a big spoonful and put it on the plate.

After we had eaten our snacks, I grabbed my book from my room. When I got back to the living room, I noticed she was staring at all of our family pictures on the wall. Most of them were of me when I was young, some of them were of the three of us through the years, some were of me with Emmett and my other friends.

"Ready?" I asked calmly, making her jump. She turned around and nodded her head, making her way over to her backpack. She grabbed her book and moved towards me. "From the beginning of the scene?"

"Yep." She nodded and flipped the pages.

"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?" I started. I read through the entire monologue, and when I looked up she didn't have the look of disgust on her face she usually did. She was almost smiling even.

"Ay me!" She spoke, and I started the other part of my monologue.

"Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" She spoke, and there was just something about the way she was reading her lines that mesmerized me. At school, she was so tough and edgy. But now, she was so peaceful and...girly. "And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

"Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this." We continued until we'd read through the scene until it was finished. Once I had spoken my last line, she looked up at me and seemed to have a much calmer exterior.

"Wow, Mr. Know-it-all, that wasn't half bad."

"Yeah?" I asked, not being able to contain my happiness.

"I didn't think you'd be able to actually act." She said. "You still have a long way to go, but that was a good start."

"Thanks," I whispered, suddenly feeling very subconscious.

"I should go." She said abruptly.

"You can stay for dinner."

"No way." She said, her eyes bugging out of her head. "See ya!" She called as she gathered her things and ran out the front door. I followed her, the concrete sidewalk cold up against my bare feet. I watched as she threw her things in the passenger side and frantically got in and back out of the driveway.

I just couldn't help but wonder what was going on in her life.

I did what I promised to do and called Tanya when I got back inside. I had to keep the conversation short so I could finish my other homework I hadn't started yet, but I didn't want her thinking that Bella had been here all afternoon. After we hung up, I got my chem book out and started studying for the quiz we had at the end of the week.

All of the AP classes were starting to pile up and I was starting to stress out a little bit.

* * *

Bella and I practiced everyday after school for the rest of the week and when I asked if she wanted to practice on Saturday, she blew me off and ran down the hall. I just shrugged it off, assuming she just had stuff to do and she wanted to keep it private.

When I got to lunch though, she was sitting there with nothing to eat. I contemplated going over and giving her money, but I knew how much that would piss her off. I looked over at my fiends who were too into what was going on with themselves, and walked over to her. When I reached her table, I handed her the brown bag my mom had packed me.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked.

"You have to be hungry." I shrugged. "And I'm not a huge fan of pork."

"Mommy packed your lunch?" She asked, raising her eye brow.

"I didn't ask her to do it. She was packing herself a lunch and had some more leftovers." I explained, unsure of why I had to explain myself. "Do you want it? It's just a pork sandwich and some sort of fruit."

"Ummm," She stuttered "Ye..."

"Edward." I heard Tanya's voice say from behind me. "What are you doing?"

"I was..." I started when Bella cut me off

"We were just talking about the scene." She lied. "But, yeah I think we should try and get close to the costumes people normal wear. We can dig through the costume room later next week."

"O...kay." I nodded, confused of why she was lying for me. I had no problem telling Tanya I was just having a conversation with her. But, then again she probably didn't want people knowing she couldn't get a lunch because she didn't have any money. Tanya pulled me back towards our table and I felt awful since she was about to accept my offer to take my lunch.

I wasn't hungry anymore, so I just sat there and listened to my friends talk about whatever it was they had been doing. With homework, studying, and no the scene to practice, I had barely seen them all week. I missed seeing them, but at the same time it was nice not deal with Rosalie gossiping and Jasper's continuous talk about the amazing sex him and Alice were having.

I turned to see if Bella was still sitting in the cafeteria, but I couldn't find her anywhere. I really wished Tanya had waited two more minutes before coming into the cafeteria.

The rest of the day passed by slowly, and Tanya was waiting by my locked after the last bell rang. She did not look happy. I tried to ignore it because I knew she was probably being irrational, but when she wouldn't stop death glaring me I figured I should probably see what was going on.

"What's up, babe?" I asked as nicely as I could. Ever since she found out Bella and I had to do this scene, she wasn't the same Tanya anymore. I really wished she would just breathe and trust me, but I was realizing that was much harder for her than I thought.

"Do you have feelings for her?" She asked quietly, her entire demeanor changing. Her face softened and her shoulders dropped.

"Who?" I asked. "Bella?" She only nodded. "Oh, Tanya." I whispered pulling her into a tight hug. I rubbed her back soothingly and just let her get out whatever she needed.

"I just...you've never seemed so interested in anyone before." She sobbed. "And I get that she's mysterious and that intriguing but I'm not ready to lose you yet."

"Is that why you've been acting so strange?" I asked as she lifted her head off my chest. She nodded and I just smiled at her, kissing the top of her head. "Just trust me. I don't have feelings for her like that. I just think that everyone needs a good friend...which she doesn't seem to have."

"If she was a little nicer..."

"Tanya, anything could have happened to her before she moved here." I pointed out. "My dad told me that her mom didn't come with her when they moved. There could be a million reasons she's so agitated all the time."

"I guess I just want you all to myself." She shrugged.

"I only want to be her friend." I told her, ninety percent sure I was telling the truth. "You're my girl. The only girl."

"Good," She smiled as I reached up and wiped the tear that was streaming down her cheek.

* * *

It was difficult, but knowing how insecure Tanya was about my befriending Bella, I tried to keep my contact with her to drama or rehearsing the scene. I hated having to choose, but I had a good feeling Tanya would be in my life a lot longer than Bella and I needed her to know she was special to me.

Bella could tell that I had chosen to focus more on my relationship with Tanya. She was quiet and would run out of class before I could talk to her, and we would only talk about the scene when we were at my house. She almost seemed hurt that I didn't really talk to her which didn't make sense since she was constantly yelling at me to get away.

Even though I didn't have much personal contact with her, I continued to put money into her lunch account. I still felt everyone should be able to eat lunch and if the school wouldn't help her, then I would. I figured she knew because every time she would walk to her table after grabbing food, she'd stare me down.

I was glad she was finally accepting the help that I wanted to give her though.

Two weeks after my conversation with Tanya, however, everything changed. Everyone had sat down to eat and for the first time in a while, I was having a good time with my friends. Rosalie was able to keep her mouth shut and we were having good and genuine conversations.

"Whoa," Jasper sighed when he looked out the window. I turned to see what he was looking at and dropped my carrot when I saw Bella and Mike together. He was yelling at her, and looked really angry and really creepy. "She must have said no to banging him or something.

"Shut up, Jasper." I said without looking at him. I was about to go back to eating, knowing that she was tough enough and Mike was too much of a wimp to actually do something.

I was wrong.

Suddenly, as she was trying to walk away, he grabbed her arm and yanked her back to where he was standing. He then proceeded to push her up against the window and before I knew what I was doing, I sprinted out of my seat and ran to the outside door. I pushed through it and ran over to where he was yelling at her.

"Come on, whore." He yelled. "Everyone already thinks we're fucking. We might as well make it true."

"Hey!" I screamed as I ran towards them. I heard the door open again, but was too preoccupied to look back to see who was following. I stopped in front of where they were standing an pushed him away from her. But, Mike was a lot bigger than me and I'd barely nudged him.

"Creep!" I heard Emmett yelled as he pushed me out of the way. Emmett was strong enough and was able to pull him off of Bella. Since I was sure Emmett was taking care of Mike, I turned towards Bella. Her face was pale white and I could see the tears streaming down her face.

"You okay?" I asked stupidly. Of course she wasn't okay. She nodded her head and tried to run away, but I grabbed her arm before she could. "You're okay," I whispered as I brought her into a tight hug. I could feel her shaking under me, but I didn't think she was cry. I just stood there and held her until the bell rang for class.

I hadn't even been paying attention to anything else until she was gone and I turned to look inside the cafeteria. Tanya was standing there, looking hurt and fuming.

"Crap," I whispered. I really didn't want to upset her, but what did she expect me to do? Just stand there and watch whatever was happening unfold? If I knew anything about the people at this school, I had a feeling most of them would have just watched. Even Emmett would have been too caught up in it if I hadn't run out.

I gave Tanya her space for the rest of the day, but I didn't want her going home thinking anything but how much I cared about her. I quickly went to my locker and when I had my stuff, I raced to find her at her locker and I was thankful that her last class was on the other side of the school.

"I'm not in the mood, Edward." She said as she approached her locker. "Just go find your other girlfriend."

"Tanya, what did you expect me to do?" I asked. "Watch her get kicked around."

"No but I at least thought you had the sense to not hug her like you hug me when I'm upset." She said and that hit me like a ton of bricks. I'd hugged Rose and Alice when they have been upset, but not the way I hugged Bella. I only hug Tanya the way I hugged Bella.

"Tan,"

"You need to figure out what it is you want, Edward." She said as she shut her locker. "Because I won't be dragged around like this all year." She said and walked away towards where Rosalie and Alice were standing.

I had never been so confused before.


	5. Go to Sleep

**Chapter Five: Go to Sleep**

* * *

What did I want? I mean, in reality most high school sweethearts didn't make it past the first year of college. But, that didn't mean I wanted to give up on my relationship with Tanya yet. We'd been together for so long, and besides that we had all of the same friends. Breaking up would be difficult on everyone and I had a feeling that our friends would end up having to pick sides.

And I didn't even think Bella would even want me in that way. I wasn't even sure if I wanted Bella in that way. I didn't know if my interest in getting to know Bella was even worth it anymore. Tanya was constantly unhappy, and Bella always sent me away when I tried to talk to her about anything other than the scene.

If Harvard didn't want me to be so freaking cultured I wouldn't even be in this mess.

I got home that night, unable to concentrate. Bella told me she wasn't up for practicing, and I completely understood. I wanted to work on my homework and study, but I knew it would be a waste of time since I was too damn distracted. The only thing my Dad ever let me do that might come in the way of homework was baseball so I called Emmett and asked if he wanted to go the batting cage.

I went upstairs and gathered up my baseball gear that I hadn't really touched since the season had ended. I should have been practicing all summer like my dad wanted me to, but with everything going on over the summer, it was impossible to find time. I met Emmett at the cages and paid for five rounds each.

I got in the cage and hit the first round of balls. I was rusty, but I thought it was going to be much worse than it was. I was able to hit most of them, even if half of the balls I hit would have been considered a foul ball.

"So, you gonna tell me what's going on?" Emmett asked. He knew me better than anyone, better than my own parents sometimes. "I mean, I get why you went after Mike at lunch...but hugging Bella..."

"I honestly have no idea." I told him as we cleaned up the balls. "I mean, Tanya has been everything to me for the past two years. And Bella barely wants anything to do with me. But..."

"It's okay to want to be friends with her, Edward. No one is stopping you."

"See...that's what I..."

"But it isn't okay to hug her like that when you have a perfect girlfriend." He pointed out. "I don't want to be that friend that tells you what to do, but I know you. I know you would never do anything to purposely hurt Tanya."

"You know I wouldn't." I assured him.

"But...I think if I were you...I'd take sometime to think of what you want and who you want."

"Emmett, she was being attacked." I reminded him. "You saw what Mike was doing. You pulled him off of her, he was being really aggressive. It was a natural reaction to comfort her. I would have hugged Alice or Rosalie if that had been happening to them."

"I guess," Emmett shrugged.

"People need to just trust me." I spat. "Tanya thinks I'm like in love with her now that I've been getting to know her better. I'm not."

"Okay, I believe you." He nodded.

"Thank you," I sighed, grateful someone was willing to trust me that I didn't want to be with Bella. "Tanya and I will work it out...right?"

"Yeah, I think so." He said, but I was still feeling uneasy about everything.

Bella was just a friend. I only did what I did today because she was being attacked.

I knew I had to make things right with Tanya, so on my way home I bought her favorite white lilies and headed over to her house. I rang the doorbell and was greeted by Mrs. Denali, who brushed me off only telling me that Tanya was in her room. Mrs. Denali was still warming up to me, even though we'd been together for two years.

I made my way upstairs and walked down the hall towards her bedroom. I knocked soflty and heard her desk chair scrape against the wooden floor. The door swung open, and I could tell that she had been crying.

"What?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. I really hated this because we'd never been so upset with each other before. But, over the coarse of the last few weeks, we had both been mad at each other. I just wanted to make everything right again.

"I choose you, Tanya." I whispered, handing her the flowers. "I'm always gonna choose you."

"The way you look at her sometimes..." She started. "It's starting to make me think differently."

"Look, I get that I haven't been the best boyfriend lately," I said as I scratched the back of my head. "But, that's going to change. I promise."

"You promised it was just an assignment." She pointed out. "Im finding it hard to believe."

"I don't know whats been going on with me." I admitted as she stepped aside, letting me in her room. She shut the door and I walked over to her desk, smiling at the picture of the two of us. "But, when you told me that I had to make a choice earlier, everything became clear. I guess I didn't know how close I was to losing you until now and I don't want that."

"I don't want that either." She agreed as she set the flowers on her dresser top. I steps closer to he and gripped her hips, pulling her close to me.

"You and me, Tan." I whispered, leaning down and brushing my lips against hers. "Oh, and I have a question for you."

"What?" She smiled, stepping back slightly and looking up at me.

"Will you go to homecoming with me?" I asked.

"I would be honored." She giggled as she pulled me towards her again. We spent the rest of the night working on homework together. Everything was actually very clear now. Whatever I had with Bella was purely curiosity and it wasn't worth jeopardizing my relationship with Tanya over.

* * *

For the next two weeks, everyone was in a frenzy about the homecoming game and the dance. Rosalie campaigned to be homecoming queen and the girls talked nonstop about how excited they were. Things with Tanya had remained normal and since Mike was suspended, I felt at peace.

Bella and I also only practiced in the drama room after school now. I hated having to do it, but it was making Tanya feel a lot better about the situation. I needed to focus on Tanya a lot more than before, but if a change in location was going to her feel better I wasn't going to argue.

"Where do you wanna start from today?" I asked Bella when she came into the drama room. Ever since Mike did what he did, she was even more tuned out from the world and wouldn't even speak to me in class today.

"You know I can take care of myself." She spat, throwing me off. "I don't need you swooping in and saving me."

"You're mad at me for pushing Mike away?" I asked stunned. "I was trying to help." I told her, trying to keep calm. I really didn't appreciate her yelling at me like this.

"I don't fucking need it!" She screamed, throwing her book at me. "I've been taking care of myself since the fucking eighth grade, I don't need your help."

"Bella, he was about to do some serious damage." I reminded her.

"Just fuck off, okay?" She yelled as she bent down to pick her book up.

"Fine," I barked. "I'll just let you get beaten up next time. I'll just sit there.

"Perfect." She spat, and I could see how heavy she was breathing. Things were just never going to get better with her. "We should start from right before 'From with loves wings'. Okay?" she asked and I just nodded.

"How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?" She spoke. It was kind of amazing how she could go from being so pissed off at me to Juliet in three seconds. "The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, and the place death, considering who thou art, if any of my kinsmen find thee here."

"With love's light wings did I o'er perch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out." I read, really starting to understand Rome's character more.

"If they do see thee, they will murder thee." She spoke, and I could hear the hurt in her voice.

"I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight; and but thou love me, let them find me here." I said in a quiet voice. We had been reading this scene for a month, but something was starting to click. "My life were better ended by their the, than death prorogued, wanting of thy love."

When I looked up from the book, Bella was staring at me with a look she'd never given me before.

"You okay?" I asked softly.

"I need to go." She said, grabbing her bag and running out the door. I stood there, confused of why she was acting the way she was acting. I raced out to try and catch her, but by the time I'd gotten outside her truck was gone. I got in my car and drove home.

"Hey, kiddo." Mom greeted when I walked upstairs. "Where's Tanya?" She asked since Tanya usually came home with me on Wednesdays, but today she told me she was having a girls day.

"She's out with Rose and Alice." I sighed as I sat down next to her on the couch. "I think they're doing something to get ready for Saturday."

"That's a good guess." She smiled. "Edward, are you okay? You've been acting strange this past month."

"You know the scene I have to do with Bella?" I asked, and she nodded. "Well, because of that things have been kind of weird with Tanya. All I'm doing is working with Bella for a grade, and I'm trying to be nice to her. She doesn't have any friends really, and the people at school are really big asses when it comes to her."

"Okay?"

"So I'm just being friendly with her and Tanya is seeing her as a threat." I told her.

"Is she?" Mom asked. "A threat to your relationship."

"What? No." I told her.

"I'm not crazy, Edward." She reminded me. "I'm pretty observant and you haven't been seeing Tanya very much lately and you've barely mentioned her name...but you've been talking about Bella an awful lot."

"Mom, Tanya and I are together, and our relationship is strong." I tried telling her. "We've just been in a weird place lately but we're going to go to homecoming together and have a great time and when this midterm is over, I won't have to see Bella anymore. It'll all go back to normal."

"If you say so," She nodded, but I could tell she didn't mean it. I knew there was no arguing with my mom so I grabbed my bag and went upstairs to work on homework. Since this weekend was going to be busy, I tried to get as much done as possible. Mom even just brought my dinner to my room so I could work.

It was times like these when I wished I didn't have the pressure of Harvard breathing down my neck.

Friday went by pretty quickly since most of the teachers knew no one was going to be pay attention. Most of them only lectured for half the period before they let us have free time. In drama, we learned how important stage directions were and how crucial it was to be on your mark at the right time.

This was the kind of thing I hated about the class, but when I looked over at Bella, she looked completely captivated. It was like he was telling her the greatest story ever told. I couldn't help but smile at how happy this class made her.

At lunch, all I heard anyone talking about was homecoming. I was honestly happy that it was going to be over soon because I didn't know how much more of it I could take. Even Emmett couldn't shut up, talking only about how we were going to crush the other team that night.

That night was actually pretty epic. We creamed our rivals and Rose and Emmett were homecoming king and queen. I was actually really happy for Rosalie, knowing how important this was for her. I wasn't really sure why she was so desperate for the crown, but she was genuinely happy and that didn't happen too often with the way things were at home.

Saturday went pretty slow for me. I worked on stuff I didn't get done on Thursday until I absolutely had to start getting ready. When 5:00 rolled around, it was time to pick up Tanya and head over to Rosalie's house to take pictures. Most of the time we were there Jasper, Emmett and I just stood there while the girls took pictures, but it made them happy.

When we got to the school, it was packed already. I grabbed Tanya's hand and pulled the tickets out of my pocket to hand to the chaperone. We set our things down on the gyms bleachers and headed out to the dance floor. As much as something like this wasn't my thing, they had actually gotten a good DJ and we were all having a good time.

Halfway through the dance, I looked up and saw Bella standing there with Jacob Black. He helped her take off her big, yellow jacket revealing the dress she was wearing. It was a short, black dress that tied around her neck. I could see the little bit of cleavage peaking out and gulped.

She looked absolutely amazing.

I shook my head, trying to get her out of my mind and looked back at Tanya. I leaned down and kissed her, more passionately than ever before. I didn't know what had come over me, but I just knew I had to do something.

"What was that for?" Tanya asked breathlessly after I'd stopped the kiss.

"Just because." I lied. I grabbed her hips again and we began dancing again. I looked over and saw that Jakes hands were all over Bella, and not in a romantic or sexy way at all. He was just feeling her up, and by the look on her face she was enjoying. When she caught my eyes, she just smoked at me and grabbed Jake's hands.

My blood began broiling.

I knew that I would end up doing something stupid if I stayed in the gym, so I excused myself so I could get a drink. I went out to the gyms lobby and turned the corner so I was out of sighed. I leaned up against the brick wall and ran my hands through hair. I had no idea what was going on, but it was really weird and kind of intense.

"Well, look who decided to ditch his precious girlfriend." I heard Bella's voice say sharply. I looked up and when I saw her, my heart began to race. "Why are you outside all by yourself Mr. Perfect?"

"What about you?" I asked, the anger in my voice obvious. "Where's your date?"

"Won't your prissy girlfriend be angry if she catches you with a whore like me?" I swear if Tanya wasn't right inside, I probably would have pushed her against the wall and kissed her. But, I knew better and I knew she was just trying to push my buttons.

"Why are you here anyway?" I asked. "Homecoming doesn't really seem like your thing since you're just above everyone at this school."

"I knew you'd be here." She shrugged, a smirk on her face. "And I knew how much my being here would drive you fucking crazy."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"Think about it, Edward." She whispered as she turned around and walked away.

"Fuck," I sighed to myself once she was out of sight. I stayed outside until the end of the song and decided to go back inside. Bella and Jake were still all over each other and I was still fuming. I kept my back turned towards them the rest of the night, but just knowing he was touching her made me wanna scream.

After they played the last song of the night, I pulled Tanya out of the gym as quickly as I could. I didn't want to have to see Bella again and I definitely didn't want to see Jake again. We jogged to my car and got in without saying a word. I just didn't even know what to say to her at this point because I knew saying something would just add fuel to the fire.

"This was perfect." She told me at her door. Suddenly, I felt awful for the way I'd been acting. "It was just what I wanted our last homecoming to be."

"Good," I nodded. I honestly didn't know what to say to her. "I'll see you Monday."

"You know my parents aren't home." She whispered as she kissed my neck. "They're gone for the weekend. Charlotte is at a friends house tonight."

"Tanya, I'm exhausted." I protested, surprising myself. I could tell what she wanted to do, but I couldn't bring myself to want to do it. Not now anyway. Not after what happened with Bella. "Plus, my curfew is in twenty minutes."

"That's more than enough time." She whispered seductively.

"We aren't going to have sex for the first time with a time limit." I huffed. "I gotta go." I said and walked away from her.


	6. I Think I May Be

**Chapter Six: I Think I May Be...**

* * *

"So, as your midterm approaches I was thinking of ways we could make things just a little more interesting" Mr. Auburn explained the Monday after homecoming.

"What do you mean?" A freshman girl who was sitting in the front row asked.

"I was wondering if maybe opening it up for people to come watch would be a good idea." He said and my eyes went wide. This was the one thing I did not want anyone else to see. Not only did I want to keep Tanya sane, I also didn't want to be ripped on for this by Emmett or Jasper.

"I vote no." I said immediately.

"It isn't something to be voted on, Mr. Cullen." He said and I closed my eyes in dread. "I've already spoken to Mr. Barnes and we are all set for the Thursday and Friday midterms start."

"Is like...a mandatory assembly?" Bella asked.

"No, people can come down if they have a free period or if their teachers allow it." He told us. "There might be one hundred people watching, or there might only be ten. It all depends." Tanya and Emmett both had electives during forth period.

"If it's not mandatory then whats the point?" I asked. "I mean, not all of us are in this class because they want to perform in front of people. That was not in the class description."

"The point in opening it up is because actors work best when they have an audience to build off of." He explained. "It will also want you to work harder so you don't embarrass yourself in front of your precious friends." He told me and I sunk back into my seat. I didn't want to perform in front of people.

"Yes, sir." I whispered, feeling defeated. I looked over at Bella, and she actually looked happy. I wasn't sure if it was because I was going to be in misery performing in front of people or because she was actually okay with this. I figured it was a little bit of both.

When the bell rang, Bella grabbed my arm and prevented me from going to lunch. I was still confused and pissed about homecoming, and I didn't want to spend more time than I had to with her. At this point, I was pretty sure she was getting to me so it would sabotage my relationship with Tanya.

"What?" I barked after everyone had filed out of the room.

"Stop being an ass." She hissed. "We still haven't dug through the costume room."

"I am not wearing tights in front of everyone." I told her. "I'll do anything else for this midterm, but I just won't wear tights."

"Stop being a pussy and grow up." She said, rolling her eyes. "Peter Pan wears tights. Romeo wears tighter pants with boots pulled over them." She explained. "If you wouldn't have fucking barked at me you would have known that."

"Bel..."

"We'll look before we rehearse today."

"I can't rehears today." I told her earning myself a glare. "I need to spend time with Tanya."

"This is more important than your fucking relationship!" She screeched.

"Bella, we've been practicing since the end of September. We have everything down." I tried to assure her.

"We still have a lot to do!" She argued. "We have to figure out blocking, and now we have to figure out what kind of lighting we want if we're going to be on stage. And we have to look for the costumes and try them on and practice in them."

"Bella, we have time for all of that." I said and she suddenly looked hurt. "Trust me, it'll work out. But I need to spend time with Tanya and my friends. I already don't have any time to see them with all of my classes."

"Fine go be with your snobby friends and fucking girlfriend." She spat, suddenly red with anger. "It's just a stupid assignment, right?" She stormed out of the room, leaving me there even more confused than before. I knew she was serious about this, but we were way ahead of schedule for rehearsing it.

I walked towards the cafeteria and sat down with my friends after getting my food. I looked over at Bella sitting at her usual table, and caught her glaring at me. I sat down and turned towards Tanya, gently pressing my lips against hers. I told them that we were going to have to perform in front of the school, and Tanya immediately told me she'd be there. Emmett also agreed, but way too eagerly.

"Damn APUSH." Jasper whispered under his breath. "I would pay good money to see you in tights, and trying to act."

"First of all, Romeo doesn't wear tights. Peter Pan wears tights." I laughed, throwing a french fry at him. "Second of all I am a wonderful actor."

"Of course you are, babe." Tanya giggled, but I could tell she didn't actually believe me.

"No, I am pretty good." I argued. "Even the teacher says I'm good for a beginner."

"That's what they tell kids when they first start something." Alice giggled and I just leaned back in my chair, glancing over at where Bella usually sat.

* * *

The next day during my free period, Bella skipped class so we could dig through the costumes. I never realized how much stuff went into one of the musicals or plays our school did. There were hundreds of costumes, props, and smaller set pieces in a tiny room. Since Bella had helped organize the closet every year, she had a pretty good idea where all the Shakespeare costumes were.

"This is it," She smiled and handed it to me. It wasn't half bad and I sighed in relief. I was going to look stupid, but not too stupid. She continued looking through the rack and finally found herself a dress. I smiled at her since a pale pink dress with a baby blue robe.

"You wanna try it on?" She asked, sounding short. She had not been in a good mood with me all day. And I didn't really blame her since I'd ditched her yesterday.

I nodded and she pointed towards a door that led to a smaller room attached to the costume room. I shut the door and began undressing. The costume was a little snug, but it wasn't something I couldn't deal with. I opened the door so she could see me, and smiled when I saw her in the costume.

For one of the first times ever, she seemed so easy going and free. She was just walking around in the dress and she spun around once. It was like someone had given her a ball gown for a ball at the palace. I softly cleared my throat and her head spun around, he cheeks turning pink.

"Good, it fits." She said, her smile and freeness disappearing. "You don't look half bad, Cullen."

"You look beautiful." I whispered and she looked like she was about to kill me.

"Go take that off so nothing happens to it." She ordered. "We'll put these in the drama room closet so no one takes them." She said and basically pushed me back into the smaller room to change.

After we both changed and put the costumes away, we headed to the parking lot to go to my house. Since we'd taken so long digging through costumes, someone was already in the drama room practicing. And because the room was occupied, we had no choice but to go to my house. I wished she would just let us practice at her house, but she wouldn't budge. I didn't mind, but sometimes I thought it might be nice to see where she lived.

"Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear that tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-" I read when we'd finally gotten to my house and settled down. "O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, that month changes in her circled orb." She said and I smiled, seeing how into it she was getting. "Lest that thy love prove likewise variable." She read and for some reason, I just couldn't get my next lines out. "Edward?"

"I'm sorry about yesterday," I whispered. "Even though we have this down pat...I still shouldn't have bailed."

"Whatever," She shrugged sounding really annoyed. "Just go."

"I should have invited you." I sighed. "I mean, we just went out for pizza. I'm sorry."

"Like I'd want to hang out with Rosalie." She huffed. "Or any of your preppy friends."

"You like hanging out with me." I pointed out.

"I have to hang out with you." She barked. "Please just read."

"If you didn't like hanging out with me then you wouldn't have gotten so upset yesterday when I told you I couldn't practice."

"I was upset because we still have a lot to do!"

"Okay," I said, putting my hands up in defeat. "But, I'll keep your little secret if you...do like hanging out with me." I told her and she rolled her eyes.

"Can we please just get through this part?"

"What shall I swear by?" I asked, getting back into character.

"So not swear at all; or, if though wilt, swear by thy gracious self," She read and I smiled. She was a damn good actress and knew Juliet like she was her second half or something. "Which is the god of my idolatry, and I'll believe thee."

"If my heart's dear love-"

"Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract to-night: It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;" She spoke. While she was reading her lines, I took the time to notice how beautiful she was. Today, she didn't have any of the usual heavy makeup she wore. Her eyes were a really pretty shade of brown, and that was something I'd never noticed before. "Good night, good night! As sweet repose and rest come to thy heart as that within my breast."

"O, wilt though leave me so unsatisfied?"

"What satisfaction canst thou have to-night?"

"The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine." I read and she just stared at me intently. I didn't think anything of it because she did this a lot either when I did something wrong or she was thinking. And since she hadn't barked at me, I assumed she was deep in thought.

"You're right." She eventually said. "I like hanging out with you. But I really hate your friends and none of them like me so don't bother having a pity party for me."

"Damnit, Bella!" I snapped. "I'm not saying that I want to throw you a pity party! All I said was that I should have asked you to come because you're my friend and I ask my friends to hang out! Not everything I do is to make you feel bad about yourself!"

"Whatever,"

"No, not whatever!" Now I was just pissed at her. "Stop assuming I'm out to get you or that I'm trying to embarrass you. In case you haven't noticed, I am not like my friends."

"Why do you hang out with them?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest. "If your so different and miserable with them."

"I'm not miserable." I shrugged. "I love my friends, but sometimes they can be mean and even selfish."

"Sometimes?" She asked. "Rosalie doesn't have a nice bone in her body. I've never once seen her be nice to anyone...she isn't even nice to that hulk she calls her boyfriend."

"Rose isn't that bad..."

"She started the rumor that I sleep with guys for money." She told me. "Did you know that?"

"Mike started that..."

"No, she did. Mike's an ass and an idiot, but he isn't someone who would pay me for sex." She said. "He's too cheap."

"That's why it isn't true..."

"She also sent around a picture of butt naked and holding a dildo in my hand." She said. "It was posted all over school and I'm pretty sure she emailed it to everyone so they'd never forget."

"What? That never happened..."

"You had mono sophomore year and you were out for like a week and a half." She explained, and I could tell that by the look in her eyes she wasn't lying to me. "It was all gone by the time you got back and everyone was onto something new."

"Bella, I didn't know..."

"So no. I don't want to ever hang out with your friends." She whispered. "They're...well Rosalie is the reason I don't have friends and can't make any."

"I'm your friend." I breathed and she only nodded at me. "Should we get back to work?" I asked and she only nodded.

That night, Bella forwarded me the picture Rosalie plastered everywhere. I couldn't believe she would do something like this. I mean, I knew sometimes she was mean but I never thought she'd do something like this. This isn't something people just forget about and I couldn't believe that I hadn't found out about it before now.

When I got to school the next day, I couldn't even look at Rosalie without being sick. So, I just stuck to myself and told Tanya to go ahead with me while we stood at my locker. I just stood there, no knowing what to do with myself. I felt so guilty for some reason, and I hadn't even been at school when it happened. I guess it was guilt by association.

"Hey man!" Emmett hollered as he and Jasper walked down the hall. Suddenly, I was furious with them as well. They knew what Rosalie did and they didn't even bother telling me or telling her to back off. "Whoa, you look pissed."

"What did Rose do to Bella sophomore year?" I barked and they both looked stunned. I was usually able to keep my cool, especially with them. "Bella sent me the email of the picture that was put up all over school."

"It's no big deal, dude." Jasper shrugged. "It was two years ago."

"It's no big deal?" I asked, suddenly feeling really awful. "What if someone had done that to Alice?" I asked and that struck a nerve. "Exactly. That picture ruined her reputation. She can't even get through a school day without being called a whore and I didn't get it before."

"There isn't anything we can do, man." Emmett said and I could tell he was starting to feel bad about everything that happened to Bella. "It was too long ago." He said and I could see Rosalie's blonde hair walking through the hallway. Before I knew what I was doing, I charged towards her.

"Hi, babe." Tanya greeted with a big smile on her face. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what Rose had done.

"Why would you do this?" I asked angrily, and she just looked confused. "This!" I yelled pulling out my phone and getting the email up.

"That was some of my better..."

"What the fuck, Rosalie!" I yelled and everyone in the hallway seemed to quiet down. "Why would you do this to someone! What the hell did she ever do to you?"

"Rosalie?" Tanya asked, looking more closely at the picture. Tanya knew about it, but I was now certain Tanya had no idea it was Rose who'd done it. "This was you?"

"Yeah, so?" She asked and I didn't realize how heartless she was. "Look, she was after Emmett. I could tell and I wanted him."

"You did this...so you could win Emmett?" I asked, "Rosalie..." I couldn't even finish what I was going to say because I knew I'd regret it. So, I just turned and walked away towards the drama room. This seemed to be a good place to be because none of my friends even knew where it was.

I sat down in one of the chairs and buried my face in my hands. I honestly couldn't believe she had stooped that low because Bella had a crush on Emmett at one point. It wouldn't have mattered if Bella liked him because every girl liked him, but that didn't change how he felt. He was head over heels for her and he always had been.

"I heard about your outburst." Bella's voice said, making me jump. I hadn't even heard the door open. "You didn't have to..."

"I don't need any crap, Bella." I sighed as I looked up at her. I knew I'd just made a huge mess and I didn't know if I could ever be around Rose again which was a big problem.

"I'm genuinely saying you didn't have to do that." She said softly, looking vulnerable. "It was a long time ago."

"That doesn't matter." I snapped without meaning to. "No one should be treated like that."

"Why do you all of a sudden care about what happens to me?"

"I guess...I'm suddenly realizing what's actually important."

"What's important?" She asked, stepping closer to me. I stood up and walked towards her. "Edward?"

"I don't even know," I shrugged as we met in the middle of the room. "I just...when you couldn't pay for your lunch at the beginning of the year I guess I kind of realized not everything is perfect."

"In your world everything is." She pointed out.

"Exactly." I whispered. "I realized that...my world kinda sucks."

"No, your world is what I envy."

"Why? It's a bunch of mean, selfish, competitive people." I said. "I don't even know if it's the world I wanna be in..."

"You have leftovers in your fridge. I'd kill for leftovers and for my mom to make my lunch." She said and I could see the tears in her eyes. I reached out and grabbed her hand, looking at her. Suddenly, I brought my finger to her chin and made her look up at me.

I found myself leaning into her, wanting only to kiss her and forgetting about everything that was happening outside of this room. Just as our lips were about to meet, though, the bell rang. I shut my eyes tightly, wishing we had more time but I knew I had to get to homeroom. She let go of my hand and bolted before I could say anything.

"We are friends, by the way." She said when she poked her head back in the room. I wanted to say something to her, but she ran away again before I had the chance. I grabbed my bag and headed towards the English department where my homeroom was. I sat down next to Alice, and my mind was reeling.

What had just happened?


	7. What Would I Do?

**Chapter Seven: What Would I Do?**

* * *

The next few weeks passed by pretty slowly. Since what Rose did was still making it hard to look at her, I avoided my friends most of the time. I hated it and I missed Emmett and Jasper, but I still couldn't wrap my head around what happened when I had mono. No one was asked to pick sides, but at lunch I would sit with Tanya away from Rosalie.

Tanya was thrilled when she found out it had been Rose who put those pictures up.

Things will Bella were still as weird as ever. I couldn't get a clear idea of what she actually wanted. Sometimes, she was excited to see me and we'd spend the time we were supposed to be practicing just talking. They weren't deep conversations, but I was starting to learn the little things that made her Bella. Her favorite color was purple, which surprised me, and her favorite movie was Pride and Prejudice.

She was still so tight lipped though. I knew nothing but small, trivial stuff. She wouldn't tell me about her plans for the future, like what she wanted to do and if she wanted to go to college. She refused to tell me where they lived before moving to Forks and anytime I brought up family, she'd cringe and change the subject.

But, I was taking what I could get and I was happy that our friendship was slowly building. It was also nice that Tanya's fears about losing me to Bella had diminished over time because I could now say hello to Bella in the hall without feeling like she was going to kill me. Tanya had asked me to invite her to sit with us a few times, but I knew how Bella felt about Tanya, so I would always lie and told her Bella declined.

Thanksgiving break couldn't have come at a better time. I figured some time away from Rosalie and school in general would do me some good and I could just calm down. I hoped that the break from her would bring me some peace when we had to go back to school.

I got home on Wednesday afternoon, just excited for the break fro school. Since Bella and I had been practicing longer, I was having a hard time keeping up with my other school work. Dad threatened to have me pulled from the class or have me exempt from the midterm, but I was able to calm him down. I assured him that with the break, I would catch up.

Which is what I would start doing on Friday morning.

Just as I had fallen asleep on the couch, there was a loud knock on my door. I slowly opened my eyes, wishing I wasn't home alone and stood up. I rubbed my eyes, trying to wake myself up as I turned the handle to open the door.

"Bella?" I asked, waking up when I saw her standing on my front porch, looking frantic and scared.

"I know we weren't supposed to practice..." She started but I just stepped aside and let he walk inside.

"You okay?" I asked, even though I knew she wasn't.

"Did you know that I'm a virgin?" She asked and I was actually stunned. Not because I believed any of the rumors about her, but she seemed pretty cozy with Jake at homecoming and I just assumed they were together. "By the look on your face I can tell you thought I am the slut of the school."

"No, I didn't think that." I assured her. "You just seemed...I shouldn't have assumed you weren't a virgin."

"I am." She told me again. "And it really sucks when you just wanna go home but...but someone pulls you into one of the alleys."

"What?" I screeched, appalled someone would go so low as to do something like that. "Who?"

"It...doesn't matter."

"It does matter, Bella." I told her as I put my hand up to her cheek. "It does. What happens to you matters."

"Tyler." She whispered. "I was walking around in town...near the bookstore." She stopped and took a breath. "I was walking to my truck when a hand reached out and grabbed my arm."

"Bella,"

"He pulled me into the alley with him and he looked pretty determined." I could tell she was starting to hold back tears. "He pushed me against the wall and kissed me."

"Did you call the cops?" I asked, reaching in my pocket and grabbing my phone."

"No, and please don't." She begged. "I pulled myself together and kneed him in the balls. Nothing else happened."

"He should still be reported..."

"NO!" She yelled, and I knew she was serious when she said she didn't want the cops involved. "I'm fine I just...didn't want to go home."

"It's okay," I whispered as I wrapped my arms around her tightly. I cupped the back of her head with my hands, and pulled back when I felt something sticky. I looked down at my hand and notice blood on my fingers. "Bella, you're bleeding."

"I'm fine," She argued, trying to pull away from me. But I was stronger and she knew that. "Edward," She complained.

"You're head is bleeding, Bella." I told her. I put the flashlight from my phone on and turned her around so I could look.

"It's just a cut," She argued as I went into the kitchen. I washed my hands and grabbed some gloves, and the first aid kit from my fathers office.

"Lay down on the couch please." I told her. "On your stomach,"

"I'm fine..."

"This could be serious, Bella!" I snapped. She froze and finally moved towards the couch. I moved her hair out of the way to get a better look and grabbed gauze from the kit and applied it to the wound. I held the gauze there until the blood started to soak through.

"Am I gonna live?" She asked as I got another piece of gauze and switched it out.

"I think so," I smiled. "I wanna take you to see my dad though."

"No please." She begged sitting up and making me lose my grip on the gauze. "He'll call my dad."

"I'll make sure he doesn't." I assured her, wanting to understand why she didn't want her dad to be called. But, I knew that asking her would just make her fight me and I wanted to get her to the hospital. I pulled her downstairs to the garage and opened the door for her. She smiled as she got in and I grabbed my keys off the hook.

We made the short drive from my house to the hospital and parked the car close to the entrance. I made sure she was still holding the gauze on the wound and reminded her to keep pressure on it. We walked into the hospital and I smiled when I saw that Jane was at the front desk.

"Edward," She greeted sweetly. Jane started working at the hospital when I was five years old. She watched me when my mom was starting her business and Dad was on call. She was like a second mom to me sometimes. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, can you page my dad though?" I asked and she nodded. Bella and I sat down in the small waiting room and I took over holding the gauze over where she hit her head.

"What is it, Jane?" I heard my father ask as he rounded the corner. He usually wasn't paged to this part of the hospital.

"Dad," I called as I stood up and walked over to him. He looked at me, panic in his eyes. "I'm okay. Everyone's okay."

"Don't scare me like that." He huffed. "What is it then?" He asked and I turned around to motion to Bella to come over here. "Edward, what is she doing here?"

"Dad,"

"I told you I don't want you hanging out with her." He told me. "I know you're partners for a project, but why do I have a feeling you weren't practicing for your scene?"

"I'm sorry that this makes you uncomfortable or whatever," I started. "But Bella is my friend. I honestly don't care what kind of beef you have with her Dad or if you're too prideful..." I was trying to keep my cool at this point. "But she is my friend."

"What happened?" He sighed, giving in. I rolled my eyes, annoyed that he was acting like this. I turned and motioned for Bella to come over to us. "Bella, tell me what happened?"

"Ummm," She stuttered, her eyes going wide with fear and turned to me. She shook her head like she just couldn't even talk to him so I smiled at her and turned towards my dad.

"She was walking home and someone pulled her into one of the alleys in town." I explained. "Ty...whoever it was pushed her up agains the wall and she hit her head pretty hard." I explained.

"Did you call the police?" Dad asked.

"N..." I started before I was cut off.

"Yes," Bella lied. "We did but he didn't really do anything to me and I didn't see who it was."

"Follow me," Dad said as he turned and started walking back into the hospital. He led us to one of the exam rooms and instructed Bella to sit on the table. I sat down on one of the counters near the sink as Dad washed his hands. He put his gloves on and asked Bella to turn her head so he could see.

I watched carefully as he inspected her and and assessed the damage that had been done. Suddenly, after watching him look at her, I didn't know if being a doctor was the right step.

"Did you clean the wound, Edward?" He asked, turing around in his chair and looking at me.

"I tried, but..."

"You did a good job." He smiled at me. "And it was smart to get the gauze to keep it covered."

"I just did what you taught me." I shrugged. Ever since I was fifteen, Dad was giving me mini lessons for day to day life. I wasn't expecting to be cleaning a head gash, but he did teach me how to clean a wound and how to properly apply pressure.

"Bella, you're going to need a few stitches." He explained. "I' going to have a nurse come in and clean it out a bit more and then I'll come back and stitch you up."

"Okay," She whispered softly.

"I'm going to call your Dad,"

"No!" She yelled, causing him to still. "Please, it's okay. And I'm eighteen so you can't call him without my consent."

"I'll be back." He nodded and swung the door open.

"You feeling okay?" I asked, trying my hardest to keep my nose out of her business.

"My Dad and I don't get along." She cried. "He used to be a police officer and when we first moved here, he worked at the station. But then...he started drinking a lot and he got fired. The only reason we have a house is because of the in...of reasons."

"Is that why you sleep in your car?" I asked softly.

"I don't," She argued. "I told you it's quiet..."

"Bella," I whispered, grabbing her hand.

"It's just easier." She shrugged. "If I shower at the school then my dad doesn't have to pay for the water I use. And...I don't always sleep in the car." She assured me. "It's just when he's really drunk and scaring me."

We were quiet for a long time. I didn't want to pry, so I was just going to let her tell me what she wanted to. Heidi came into the room and cleaned the rest of Bella's gash and made sure it was good for my dad to stitch up. When she was done, he came back in a stitched her up.

"I'm going to need you to come back in about four days so I can remove these." He explained. "And, you can't get these wet for forty-eight hours."

"It's a good thing I washed my hair this morning." She laughed, looking over at me. I smiled at her and nodded as she turned back to my dad.

"Does she have a concussion?" I asked.

"I'm going to do a concussion test now," He assured me. I watched as my Dad performed the concussion test and he determined she thankfully didn't have one. He told her it would be a good idea to not drive for a few days, just to be safe but since we were out of school she should be fine.

Once he was done and she was discharged. We headed out to my car and back to my house. We sat in my car for a long time and I could tell she was thinking. I let her be and just sat with her while she processed things.

"Bells?" I asked softly, and she turned her head to me. "Do you wanna have Thanksgiving here?"

"You're Dad doesn't like me," She reminded me.

"He'll deal with it." I told her. "And, he just doesn't know you. He thinks anyone who doesn't come from money or a 'good family' is no good for me and he thinks..."

"I'll derail your laugh?" She asked with a smile.

"Basically." I whispered. "But, you aren't going to do that." I assured her. "And my mom will love you."

"Yeah?"

"I'm positive." I smiled. "And you can stay here for the break if you want."

"Tanya wouldn't like that." She laughed.

"She has to trust me." I reminded her. "And...if she can't then we're going to have a problem."

"This is too much." She argued.

"You don't have to, but I'd really like it if you did." I told her and I could see her smiling.

* * *

Bella stayed at my house that night in one of our guest bedrooms. I went to bed, happy knowing that she was in a comfortable, safe bed and would have a good, hot meal in the morning. I was really glad that she'd opened up to me at the hospital, but I also wanted to know more about her.

But, we were making progress and I was glad we were getting closer.

When I woke up, I went down the hall to make sure Bella hadn't snuck out in the middle of the night. I quietly opened the door and smiled when I saw her sprawled out under the covers. I assumed this was one of the first nights in a while that she'd slept in a bed. I gently shut the door and headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Mom was already cooking up a storm and Dad was sitting at the island with the morning paper. He looked up and nodded at me. I could tell he was upset that I was basically ignoring what he told me in September. Mom smiled and kissed my cheek.

"Is she still sleeping?" Mom asked as she began putting pancake batter on the griddle.

"Yeah, she doesn't sleep very well at home." I shrugged sitting down next to my dad.

"That's a shame," Mom sighed as she flipped one of the the pancakes. I took the rare morning with my parents and had a really good conversation with them. Dad didn't mention grades or Harvard or even Bella. It was nice to just talk to him like a normal family. By the time Mom had made all the pancakes, I heard a door open upstairs. I excused myself and went upstairs to find her.

"Hey," I greeted as she came out of the guest room. "My mom snuck in last night after you fell asleep and put a toothbrush and toothpaste in your bathroom."

"I got it," She smiled. "Thanks."

"And then I can get you some of her old clothes if you wanna shower and I'm sure she has a shower cap or something so your hair doesn't get wet."

"Okay," She nodded. "You really didn't have to do this for me."

"I _wanted_ to." I assured her. "Mom made pancakes if you want some."

"Pancakes?" She asked, her face lighting up like a child or something. "I love pancakes."

"Let's go then." I laughed as I stepped back and let her walk in front of me. My dad was pretty pleasant through breakfast considering he had a weird dislike of Bella. Mom kept the conversation going and avoided asking about her family and home like like I'd asked her to do.

After breakfast, Bella excused herself to shower and I went into my room to catch up on my reading since we had a paper due in a week. By the time Bella got out of the shower, I'd read 4 chapters of Invisible Man. I was glad that she was getting a real shower for once because I knew how much those showers at school sucked.

At 5:30, mom called us down for dinner. Bella had watched a movie, but she told me she wanted to be by herself by the time dinner started. Mom laid out a few dresses she had from the store to wear to dinner that she could choose from. As I was leaving my room, she opened her door and walked out.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

She was wearing a simple black dress, but I'd never seen her looking so beautiful before. The dress went to right about her knees and there wasn't any cleavage showing, but it also might have been the sexiest thing I'd ever seen her wear. It hugged her curves in all the right places and the shoes Mom let her wear made her legs look even longer than they were.

"You look...beautiful." I sighed, trying not to stare.

"Really?" She asked, sounding surprised.

"Definitely." I nodded as I tried to catch my breath. I held my hand out for her and she smiled as she grabbed it. Being with her was just so...natural. I couldn't even begin to explain it, and as much as I cared about Tanya...I didn't know if we were going to last until the end of the year.

Dinner was amazing. Somehow, Bella was starting to win my Dad over which said something. It took a while for him to warm up to Tanya when I brought her home for the first time. He loved her, but it took some time for him to really talk to her like he was talking to Bella.

I tried to convince Bella she should stay until the break was over, but she kept telling me she was fine. I didn't believe her for a second, but she was like a baby deer. I didn't want to spook her by trying to get too close too quickly.

"Where to?" I asked as she got into the passenger side of her truck. She tried fighting it but I told her I'd call a cab or walk home, and with my Dad there is would have been impossible for her to drive herself home.

"The school." She whispered.

"Bella," I started. "I can take you home."

"I don't want to go there." She whispered.

"I don't want to leave you at the school." I told her bluntly.

"La Push then." She sighed and my eyes grew wide in anger. "To Jake's house."

"Okay," I said and slammed the keys into the ignition.

"Edward?" She asked, sensing my hostility towards her.

"What?" I snapped.

"Jake isn't anything more than a friend." She whispered.

"Yeah, and I don't touch Alice the way he was touching you at homecoming." I snorted.

"I asked him to do that." She explained. "He's never done that before and it was really awkward."

"Huh?" I asked as I stopped at the stop sign at the end of my street.

"I wanted to make you jealous and drive you crazy." She said with a smile on her face.


	8. Wishing for Rain

**Chapter Eight: Wishing for Rain**

* * *

I made my way across town towards La Push. My friends and I used to come to the beaches all the time sophomore year, but then we all got our licenses and it wasn't as special. I hadn't been here since the end of junior year when we had a bonfire to burn everything we didn't think we'd need for senior year.

I looked over at Bella who was just staring out the window. Even though I was getting her to open up, she was still such a mystery.

"Do you spend a lot of time here?" I asked gently as I turned on the main road that lead to the reservation.

"I'm usually here on the weekend." She whispered. "It's too far from school to stay here all the time."

"You know..." I started but wasn't completely sure if I should continue. "You can always stay at my house during the week."

"Your parents wouldn't allow that."

"If they knew..."

"No!" She screamed, making me jump and almost lose control of the car. "Edward, I trusted you and you cannot tell anyone about my Dad. I don't have anyone else to go to and I'm not being put into the system."

"You are eighteen so they wouldn't put you in the system." I shrugged.

"Dad's all I have..." She choked. "Even though he isn't a great person...he used to be and he's all I got, Edward. Please tell me I can trust you." She begged.

"You can absolutely trust me." I assured her as I turned onto the street she said Jake lived on. I pulled up to a small house halfway down the road and parked. I looked at the house and admired the simplicity. It was small, but had a lot of charm. It was a red house with white shutters and a ramp leading up to the door.

"Jake's dad is in a wheelchair." She explained when she caught me staring at the house. "The two of them and his mom were both in a pretty bad car accident when Jake was fourteen. His mom was killed instantly. His dad is lucky to be alive."

"Oh," I nodded sadly, suddenly very thankful for my parents and their good health.

"Jake's been taking care of him ever since." She explained. "He's had to work two jobs ever since his sister bailed. I don't even think he's going to graduate." She whispered.

"Do you want me to go with you?" I asked softly after a few minutes had passed. I turned and reached behind me to grab her bag from the backseat and handed it to her.

"I'm good," She assured me with a smile. "I've known Jake since before we moved here."

"Really?" I asked. They always seemed really close for only knowing each other for two years. But, Emmett, Jasper and I were close the second day we'd known each other.

"His dad and mine were best friends in college." She explained. I loved that she was starting to talk to me about things other than movies and books. I just hoped she wouldn't take two steps back later. "They went their separate ways when my parents got married, but they always kept in touch." She told me. "We used to spend at least two weeks in Forks during the summer and sometimes we spent over a month here."

"He really is...just a friend?" I asked finally feeling better. The thought of Bella being with him was unnerving and I hated thinking about it.

"Totally," She smiled as she opened the door. "Thanks for the ride."

"I'll drive your truck down here tomorrow."

"You don't..."

"I'll just have Emmett follow me." I shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"See ya," She called as she slammed the door and ran towards the door. I watched as she grabbed the key from under the mat and walked inside. I buckled my seatbelt again and turned the car back on.

The next day, Emmett and I spent a good portion of the morning working on Bella's truck. Since his dad was one of two mechanics in town, he knew his stuff when it came to cars. He was able to help me determine what was wrong and got the parts we needed from his dad.

I also knew that it was time to tell someone about what had been going on with Bella. Emmett was the only one I could talk to and really trust. It isn't that I didn't want Jasper to be clued in, but Alice had a way of getting information out of him and I didn't want this to get out.

While we were washing it, I began telling him that my feelings weren't completely platonic anymore. I told him what happened at homecoming and when she came over yesterday. I left everything out about her being a virgin and her home situation, but I knew that Wednesday was something more than her needing a friend.

And he listened. He didn't seem to be judging me and he didn't give me his opinion when I didn't want it. He just continued to work on the engine. It was nice to just get everything off my chest and once I was done rambling, I felt like I could actually breathe again.

"You can say something now." I nudged as he just stood there, wiping the grease on his hands onto a rag.

"I think..." He stopped. "That you have it bad for her, dude."

"But...Tanya..."

"Tanya is always going to be someone really special to you," He said seriously. It was rare when we had an actual conversation that didn't end up with him laughing hysterically. "But I don't think you feel the way you want to about her. If you did you wouldn't be telling me about everything that's happened with Bella these last few months."

"I don't want to hurt her." I shrugged because no matter what I was feeling for Bella, I really cared about Tanya.

"Do you love her?" He asked. "Tanya, not Bella."

"What kind of question is that?"

"I've never heard you say that you love her." He pointed out. "You've told me how much you care for her and how special she is to you. But you have never once said you loved her."

"Emmett,"

"It's okay." He shrugged. "Sometimes feelings you have for someone don't turn into anything like love."

"You love Rosalie." I pointed out.

"I do, and you know that because I've told that to her in front of you." He said. "And I told you when I said I love you over the summer."

"I.." I started but then stopped to think. He was right. We had never said that to each other. "I thought I did."

"It's okay, Edward." He told me again. "I mean not everyone that dates falls in love."

"We've been together for two years." I reminded him, starting to panic. The last thing I wanted was to break her heart. "We've made plans for the future and our parents get along and she's everything that my...parents want me to be with."

"Exactly, she's perfect." He said and my eyes bugged out at him. "For your parents and what they want your life to be. She isn't perfect for you."

"What do I do?" I asked, slumping back onto the wall of the house.

"You have to figure that out, dude." He shrugged coming to stand next to me.

Once Emmett and I were done working on her truck, we drove it down to La Push. After everything Emmett and I had just talked about, I wasn't sure if I could handle talking to her. So, I parked the truck in the driveway, honked the horn and put the keys in the mailbox. I ran back to Emmett's car and got in, sending her a text telling her where the keys were and he backed out of the driveway.

Emmett dropped me off at home and I thanked him for the help. I got out and ran up to my room, shutting the door behind me. I tried to get work done, but with everything going on in my head, I couldn't focus. I needed up pacing for over an hour, trying to get my brain to slow down.

"Everything okay?" Mom asked when I went downstairs for lunch. Dad was working so it was just the two of us.

"I think it's time for things with Tanya to...end." I whispered and she stopped cutting the sandwich she was making. "I just...it isn't working." I told her.

"Most high school sweethearts don't last, Edward." She said eventually. That was not what I was expecting to hear. "And that's okay."

"You and Dad lasted." I reminded her. Part of the reason I was so determined for it to work with Tanya was because I wanted what my parents had."

"We were a rare case." She smiled. "And we broke up once before we got married."

"That lasted for like a week." I laughed.

"No, we had a real breakup." She explained. "We were apart for about eight months junior year of college."

"What made you change your mind?" I asked.

"We realized we were more miserable apart than we ever imagined." She said. "Honey, sometimes space is what you need to make a relationship work. So, I'm going to give you this advice and then you're going to go to her house and talk to her."

"Okay," I nodded.

"Don't completely break it off with her." She said. "I think you need to tell her you need space, but don't break up with her for good. You may just need time to miss her."

When lunch was finished, so I went downstairs and grabbed my keys from the hook.

I made my way to Tanya's house, dreading it the entire time. I knew it was what I had to do because I really didn't want to hurt her. Even though I knew she'd be heartbroken, it would only be worse the longer I waited. I sat in my car for a good ten minutes once I got there, unable to move.

Eventually, I manned up and got out of the car. I slowly made my way towards the front door and I could feel my hands shaking as I rung the doorbell.

"Hey," She smiled making me feel even more guilty. "I thought we were gonna hang out tonight."

"We..." I sighed and she looked at me with those puppy dog eyes. "Tanya I need to talk to you."

"Come on in," She whispered as she stepped aside so I could walk inside. Since her parents weren't home, we walked upstairs to her room. I watched her as she shut the door and sat down on her bed. "Is everything okay?"

"Ye...no." I told her honestly. If this was ever going to be okay again, I needed to be truthful with her. I looked around her room and saw all the pictures she had up of the two of us. She had pictures from our first date and her seventeenth birthday party. She even had the teddy bear I'd won for her at the carnival a year before we even started dating.

I was starting to feel really guilty about everything.

"Tanya, I think we should take a break."

"A break?" She asked and I could see the hurt already in her eyes. "You wanna break up?"

"No...not officially," I shrugged. "I just need time to think."

"Think about what?" She asked, standing up and walking over to me. "We're perfect together. What is there to really think about?"

"My feelings," I said gently and her eyes widened.

"This is about _her_...isn't it?" She barked. "I can't believe you! You told me there wasn't anything going on!"

"There wasn't at first, but...Tanya I got to know her and I just don't know how I'm feeling right now." I explained. "I don't want to hurt you, but if we don't take a break it's going to end really bad."

"This is unbelievable!" She shouted. "We have plans, Edward."

"Plans change, Tanya." I reminded her. We were only in high school. And I was tired of having my life planned out for me. My Dad was already doing that and I didn't need her doing that too.

I just wanted to be able to do what I wanted to for once.

"As much as I wanted us to stay together after college, I just don't know how that's going to work."

"You just need to get this midterm over and stop seeing her." She practically demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm not going to stop seeing her, Tanya." I told her bluntly. "Even when this scene is over and I'm out of that class...she's my friend."

"You want her to be more than a friend though." She cried. "Don't you?"

"I told you." I sighed, trying not to get annoyed. She was just going to keep saying the same thing on a loop. "I don't know what I want right now."

"How long do you need?" She asked, wiping her face.

"I don't know," I shrugged. I couldn't just give her a timeframe and tell her I'd have it figured out by New Years Eve. This wasn't that simple. "I just know that we can't be together while I work everything out."

"Is there even any hope for us?" She asked sadly, sounding defeated. "Because if there isn't...then we should just break up for good."

"Yes there's hope for us, Tanya." I whispered. "I wouldn't be telling you this to just yank you around." I assured her and she nodded as more tears began flowing out of her eyes.

* * *

On Tuesday when we went back to school, everything seemed so much as I needed the break, not being with her seemed almost wrong. I was missing that sense of familiarity. I didn't go to Tanya's locker to meet her and I could tell she'd told everyone what happened. Alice and Rosalie weren't speaking to me which meant Jasper wasn't allowed to go near me.

This whole break thing was going to be a lot more difficult than I had planned.

It was easier for me to focus in class now that we were taking some time. I felt bad, but I wasn't going to let her get to me. If Jasper or any of them knew what was right, they wouldn't ignore me forever. I didn't even think Tanya could ignore me forever since we'd been friends way before we started dating.

This was one the reasons you shouldn't date friends.

I didn't tell Bella about what was going on with Tanya. She had enough to worry about and I wasn't even sure if she felt the same about me. However, I did end up sitting with her at lunch and to my surprise, Emmett joined us. I could feel Rose's dagger eyes staring at us until the bell rang, but I really didn't care and apparently Emmett didn't either.

Since the midterm was so close, Bella and I were able to practice on the stage for the next week and a half. Jake had agreed to build us a balcony for the scene, even though it sat on the ground. It served its purpose and I was glad we had something to really work with.

"Wanna start from the beginning?" She asked when we walked onto the stage. It was the first time I'd ever been on this stage for something other than an award thing or something to do with student council. "You know this scene backwards and forward, Edward." She whispered. "You are more than ready."

"I hope so," I sighed as I looked around the big auditorium and then back at her. "The top is good. Yeah."

"Good," She smiled as she went to stand on the balcony. I entered from stage left like we'd practiced and took a deep breath.

"But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?" I started. "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, that thou her maid art far more fair than she."

We continued through the scene just like normal and at the end, I was even more nervous for the performance. It was starting to really stress me out. But, I knew this was really important to Bella so I knew I had to be perfect.

"We're ready," She told me as she grabbed her bag off the stage floor. "I know it's scary, but Mr. Auburn told me he'd have the house lights off and the stage lights on. It's really bright up here so you really won't be able to see anyone but me."

"Phew," I sighed with a smiled as I slung my bag over my shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me you broke up with Tanya?" She asked as we began walking out of the school.

"How did you..."

"I'm observent, Edward." She laughed. "You sat with me at lunch today and she wouldn't even look at you."

"We aren't officially broken up," I explained. "I just needed time to myself to think."

"About what?" She asked and I just shrugged.

"Life," I partially lied. I didn't want to make her feel awkward.

"You're not a good liar." She sighed. "But I'm not gonna push."

"How's your truck running?" I asked, changing the subject as we walked out to the parking lot. She smiled up at my and leaned in to kiss my cheek. It was embarrassing how hot I could feel my cheek getting.

"Really well." She nodded. "Better than when I first got it."

"I'm glad Emmett didn't mess something else." I laughed.

"Tell him thank you for me." She called as she unlocked the door and hopped inside. I watched as she drove away and took a deep breath, trying to recollect myself before going home.

Tanya and I didn't even need the break I was asking for. I already had a good idea of who I wanted.

Damnit.


	9. You're All I Want

**Chapter Nine: You're All I Want**

* * *

Today was finally the day we were be performing our scene. On stage. In front of everyone. I prayed that not many people would show up, but I knew that if people could come then they would be there. I was much more comfortable on a baseball field than on the stage.

"Dude, you're pale as a ghost." Jasper pointed out as we stood at our lockers that morning. I really did feel like I was going to be sick from nervousness. "Maybe you should see the nurse?"

"I'm fine," I lied. "Just kinda...nervous."

"Edward Cullen nervous?" Emmett laughed. "That doesn't happen. You sure you're okay?"

"I've never performed in front of people before and I really don't want to embarrass myself." I told them. "But, Bella's counting on me and so is my grade."

"You'll do fine." Jasper shrugged. "You've given plenty of speeches over the years, just pretend it's that." He was right. I was a pretty good public speaker, but it wasn't the crowds that was making me nervous. It was the thought of messing up and disappointing Bella. This was so important to her.

"Yeah, you're right." I nodded trying to calm myself down.

"We can always go to Alec and get some weed if you want." Emmett laughed, making me choke on my water. "Kidding, dude. Just kidding."

"Right," I rolled my eyes. I turned towards the door of the school and saw Rosalie walking in with Tanya. She looked up and caught my eyes, but turned away before I could even wave at her. Even if we were on a break and if even if we broke up for good, I didn't want things to be awkward. I wanted things to be okay so that we could hang out as a group like we did before any of us started dating.

"Rose is just getting in her head." Jasper sighed as I shut my locker. "Alice told me she's putting thoughts in Tanya's head about how in love with Bella you are and other crap like that."

"I'll talk to her," Emmett groaned when I looked over at him. I hated putting him in the middle, but he was the only one she really listened to. "You owe me."

"You get to come see me prance around on stage." I reminded him. "That's your payment."

"Okay, deal." He laughed as he walked away towards Rosalie's locker. I watched for Bella, but she hadn't shown up by the time the bell rang for homeroom. I couldn't sit still all morning. Alice and Emmett both told me to calm down and that I was only making myself more nervous. But I couldn't help it.

I wasn't even nervous about the performance anymore. If Bella hadn't shown up, I could only think the worse had happened and that her Dad had done something.

I sighed in relief when I saw her finally walking down the hall when the bell for third period rang. I ran up to her, but she just shook her head.

"Bells," I started, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to me. "You okay?"

"I overslept." She shrugged. "I'm fine."

"Bella," I warned. I knew her better than she thought I did.

"I made the mistake of trying to sleep at home last night." She sighed. "I got in Dad's way and he...he locked me in the bathroom."

"What?" I nearly screamed.

"I'm fine, he didn't touch me or anything." She said like it was no big deal. "It just took sometime this morning to break myself out."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't have my phone, Sherlock." She sighed. Since we were performing, we were excused from our third period class halfway through so we could go prepare. I went down to the art department of the school and smiled at all the kids in our class running around frantically.

Bella had us so well prepared I knew exactly where everything was and exactly what she wanted me to do to get ready. I found my costume hung up in the drama room closet and went to the bathroom on the far side of the hallway to change. I put my regular clothes in my book bag and met Bella in the room.

"You look...beautiful." I whispered when I saw her. She was wearing the Juliet costume we found earlier that month, but there was something different about her this time and I just couldn't figure it out.

"You don't look so bad yourself, Romeo." She giggled. The two of us waited in the room until everyone was done changing and ready to go. The bell rang and I could hear the idiots beginning to file into the auditorium. Thankfully, Bella and I were third and I had time to calm down.

"You guys are going to be great." Mr. Auburn said proudly after the last bell rang. "I have enjoyed watching you rehears and I know none of you will disappoint today." He said. "Don't be nervous. Most of the students are out there to get out of class and most likely won't be paying attention."

"Emmett will be paying attention." I mumbled under my breath. Out of nowhere, Bella reached out and grabbed my hand. I turned my head and saw her smiling at me.

"It's going to be fine." She said reassuringly. "You're gonna be great."

"So are you," I whispered as I turned back to Mr. Auburn. Not wanting to waist anytime, he sent out the first pair to get set up. Bella and I made our way to the hall behind the stage and stood there until the second pair went on.

"Good luck," She whispered as she made her way down the hall towards the wing she'd be entering from. I took a deep breath and opened the door to go into the left wing to wait to go on. When the couple had finished their scene, I heard people applauding and then my mind went blank.

The stage went black and I could hear people moving things around to get the set piece on stage. The lights went up and I saw Bella standing on her balcony. She looked over at me and smiled. I took a deep breath and walked on stage. I could hear someone whistle and I knew it was Emmett.

"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?" I started. "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."

And then, I was completely into it. I had forgotten about the people watching and all I could focus on was Bella in her beautiful dress and the way she was speaking to me. She was even better with an audience than she was when we were practicing. I couldn't help but smile as she spoke.

She was absolutely perfect.

"I shall forget, to have thee still stand there," She spoke as we neared the end of the scene. Everything had gone so smoothly I was kind of surprised. I was standing right at the balcony with her hand in mine, just like we'd practiced. "Remembering how I love thy company."

"And I'll still stay, to have thee still forget," I spoke. "Forgetting any other home but this." And before I even knew what was happening, I was leaning into her. Something had just taken over my brain because I knew she'd kill me for doing something that wasn't in the script and something we hadn't practiced.

But, when our lips met she didn't pull away. I let go of her hand and cupped her face gently and she wrapped her hands around my waist. It felt like we were the only ones there and we weren't being graded for our performance. I pulled away before long so it would seem like we were supposed to be doing that, and when I looked at her she looked kind of dazed.

"Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone: And yet no further than a wanton's bird," She said getting back into character. I smiled at her, unable to control it. I really hoped she wouldn't be mad for the kiss, but I honestly couldn't help it.

"I would I were thy bird." I said, trying my hardest to stay in character.

"Sweet, so would I: Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing." She said softly. "Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow." She said and leaned in and brushed her lips against mine again. She exited and I just stood there like an idiot before I thought of my next lines.

"Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!" I said as I started walking across stage to where I would exit. "Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest! Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell, his help to crave, and my dear hap to tell." I said and walked off stage.

When I got off stage, Ben patted me on the back as the lights went off. I stormed out the door, looking for Bella. I wanted to make sure I hadn't made her mad with the kiss and to apologize to doing something we'd never I couldn't find her, I decided to go change back into my normal clothes.

When I was finished changing, I headed down the hall towards the drama room to put the costume away. Before I got there though, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me into the small room where they kept the art supplies.

"That wasn't something we'd rehearsed." Bella asked as she shut the door. I wasn't completely sure sure if she was angry or not.

"Bella, I'm..." But she didn't give me a chance to apologize before she attacked me. She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me close to her. Her lips touched mine with more passion that on stage and I couldn't help but wrap my arms tightly around her waist.

"I've been waiting for you to do that since homecoming," She whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. I pulled back and looked into her beautiful brown eyes and new that this was what I wanted. Bella was who I wanted to be with.

"Me too," I breathed as I brought her lips to mine. My hands snaked my way down her back until they were cupping her perfectly sculpted ass. I squeezed tight, causing her to moan in my mouth as she pushed herself against me. I could feel myself tightening in my pants and groaned. We had to stop soon or else there would be a series of unfortunate events happening in my pants.

"Bella," I moaned as she moved and began kissing my neck as she reached down and began tugging at the bottom of my sweater. "We shouldn't be doing this here." I argued, but she just kept kissing my neck. With everything that was happening now, all I could do was respond and I lifted my arms so she could pull it off. I moved my hands back up her body until they landed on her hips.

"I want this," She moaned as my lips traveled down her neck and chest. "Please," She whispered as I kissed the swell of her breast that was popping out of her shirt. I lifted my head so I could look at her and in that moment, I knew I was fighting a losing battle.

She'd won.

"Fuck it," I growled as I picked her up and slammed her against the closet door. She reached down and turned the lock so no one would be able to open the door. I began attacking her neck as she rocked her hips against me. I was painfully hard now, but it didn't matter. I set her back down on her feet and she reached down and pulled her top up. revealing her lacy, lavender bra. I licked my lips in anticipation as she threw her shirt on the ground before wrapping her arms around my neck again.

This was something that I'd never experienced before. With Tanya, everything was so slow and now that I thought about it, boring. With Bella, it was raw and passionate and I didn't feel the need to hold back. I knew she wouldn't get upset about something I did.

"Are you sure?" I asked breathlessly as she began popping the buttons of my shirt open. I wanted this more than anything, but I knew she was a virgin. I wanted her first time to be as perfect as she was.

"Absolutely," She answered as she pushed my shirt off my shoulders. I smiled and crashed my lips back into hers and my hands made may way down her stomach. I stopped when I reached the waist line of her jeans and began unbuttoning and unzipping them. I pulled them down and gulped when I saw her matching lavender panties.

"Fuck," I whimpered as she stepped out of her jeans.

"Like what you see?" She asked smugly.

"Totally," I smiled as I kissed her stomach. She began squirming as I made my way down lower and lower.

"Shit," She whispered as she grabbed a fistful of my hair. "Take them off." She demanded. I slowly peeled them down her body and let her step out of them. She was almost completely naked and the sight of it alone was enough to make me burst. I stood back up and let her undo my pants and pushed them down along with my boxers.

When I was completely naked, my lips found hers again and I pushed her against the wall again. She moaned in my mouth as I picked her up again and rocked against my erection. I panted as she reached down between us and grabbed my twitching member in her hand.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." I chanted as I walked over to a a table where old paintbrushes and canvas's were placed. I set her down on top and she reached around and unclasped her bra. I watched as she slowly let it fall, revealing her naked breasts. I took a deep breath as I took it all in.

"It's not nice to stare, Edward." She mocked in the most sexy voice I'd ever heard.

"Shit," I moaned as she grabbed my hand and placed it on her boob. She then proceeded to grab my incredibly hard member and positioned it right at her entrance. "Yeah?" I asked, just being extra sure this is what she wanted.

"Fuck yes." She moaned and I slowly pushed into her. Oh my god. She was so wet and tight and warm and it took a lot of strength to not cum right then and there. I continued to push into her until I was completely inside her. When I looked up, her eyes were tightly closed and her mouth was pursed.

"You good?" I asked, wanting to make sure I wasn't hurting her.

"Move," She demanded and I had no problem complying with her. I began to slowly move, trying my hardest to not spill inside of her already. She was squirming under me and I sighed in relief...she was enjoying this as much as I was. After few seconds, she grabbed my hand and placed it between us and positioned my thumb so that is was rubbing against her swollen nub.

"Damnit!" She screamed and I was afraid that she was being a little too loud. But, the bell for lunch had rung ten minutes ago and I knew the hall was probably deserted. I began to slowly rub my thumb over her nub and she began shaking under me. She was moving more than she was before and I could tell that she was getting close.

I removed my other hand from her hip to her naked breast and began rolling her nipple through my fingers.

"YES!" She screamed as she clenched around me. She was moaning louder than ever and I smiled a little bit in triumph. She was coming. "Come inside me," She whispered and that was enough to make me explode. I realized after it was too late that we hadn't used protection, but I couldn't help myself. She was too damn sexy to deny.

I fell on top of her, both of us breathing heavily.

"Damn," I whispered as I kissed her bare stomach. "That was..."

"Fucking amazing." She breathed. I looked up and saw her smiling in complete bliss. "We need to get dressed."

"Yeah," I sighed lazily. I wasn't ready for this to end, but I knew lunch was going to be ending soon. I stood up a few seconds later and grabbed my boxers from the floor as she put her bra back on. "I'm sorry about the kiss on stage. I know we didn't practice it..."

"It's okay," She nodded as she pulled her panties up. "The scene went perfectly." She assured me, making me feel one hundred percent better. After we were both dressed we opened the door and went to the drama room to get our things. I didn't know what was the right thing to do after having sex for the first time in a closet at school, so I just walked closely beside her.

"Go with your friends." She nudged as we walked into the cafeteria. "I know they're dying to torment you."

"You're kind of mean," I smirked and she only laughed as she walked towards the empty lunch line. I looked over at where my friends were sitting and took a deep breath. I sat down next to Emmett who raised his eye brows at me but I just shook my head.

"That was some performance, man." Emmett laughed, clapping me on the back. "And those pants were amazing."

"They could have been a lot worse." I argued.

"It was good, Edward!" Alice spoke up. "I got the okay from my physics teacher when I told him my best friend in the world was in it."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"That some kiss," Tanya said. I shut my eyes, not wanting to deal with her right now. "I thought Romeo and Juliet didn't kiss during the balcony scene?"

"We took some creative licensing." I shrugged.

"I don't believe you!" She screamed, causing everyone in the room to quiet down and look at us. "Just admit it, Edward! You have feelings for her!"

"Fine!" I barked, just wanting her to back off. "I have feelings for her. That kiss wasn't planned. I kissed her because I've been wanting to kiss her for weeks now but didn't because I had you."

"I knew you were lying to me." She whispered as she stood up and ran out of the cafeteria. Alice and Rosalie got up to run after her and the rest of the room went back to what they'd been doing. I looked over at where Bella usually sat and she wasn't there.

"Whoa," Jasper sighed. "I didn't think you had the balls to admit it."

"I didn't either," I agreed suddenly feeling terrible for treating her like that. "Come on," I motioned for them to follow me. We walked out of the room and down the hall towards the bathroom. I made sure no one was there and put the trashcan up against the door.

"Dude, what's up?" Emmett asked as he leaned up against the sinks.

"Bella and I had sex." I blurted out.

"What?" They asked at the same time.

"When?" Emmett asked.

"Was it good?" Jasper asked.

"Right after the performance." I said. "And yes it was fucking amazing."

"You did it at school?" Emmett asked, his eyes bugging out of his head.

"I wasn't expecting that to happen." I explained. "It kinda just...did."

"So...what now?" Jasper asked. "Are you two like a couple or something?"

"I have no idea what we are exactly." I answered honestly.


	10. If You Were Here Beside Me

**Chapter Ten: If You Were Here Beside Me**

* * *

That night, I went to the batting cage to try and just clear my head. What happened in the closet with Bella was one of the best things that had ever happened to me. But, I didn't know where to go from here. She didn't seem like the kind of girl who would hold my hand at school or even let me call her my girlfriend.

And that was frustrating.

So, I just swung at the ball and hit it as hard as I could. It was the only way I knew how to get all my frustration out. This was the place I came when Emmett started sleeping with Rosalie and barely spoke to us. It was the place I came when my father was breathing down my neck and I didn't think anything I did would please him.

After ten dollars worth of balls, I figured it was time to head out. It was Friday, which meant Jasper and Emmett were both out with their girlfriends. I wanted to go see Bella, but I needed to continue to take baby steps with her. If I showed up at her house, it would scare her.

After I packed up my car, I got in and just started driving around town. I was so ready to leave this place and go to Boston and start my life. Now that things with Tanya were over and I was starting to see the people for who they really were...I just wanted to get out.

After an hour, I decided it was a good time to head home and get a jumpstart on homework. Midterms were draining me and I couldn't wait until the last bell on Wednesday. I pulled into my driveway and since my parents were out, I decided to just not pull into the garage. I got out and noticed someone sitting on my front steps.

I walked over and sighed when I saw Bella sitting there. It was dark and if it was anyone else, I probably wouldn't have been able to recognize them.

"Bella?" I asked as I stepped closer to her. The motion sensor lights came on and she continued to stare the other way. "Bella, are you okay?" I asked and took another step. She finally turned her head and looked at me.

"I went home after school today," She whispered and my heart stopped. Her eye was black and blue and she had a giant laceration on her cheek.

"Bella!" I called as I sat down next to her. "I have to call the police," I said, grabbing my phone from my pocket.

"Please, no." She begged, he voice cracking. "He's all I have."

"This was your dad?" I asked stunned. I assumed it was just some jerk trying to give her a hard time or something. "This isn't right, Bella."

"He realized what he did." She whispered. "He left and I have no idea where he even is so they wouldn't even be able to find him."

"They'll look then."

"I'll just deny it." She cried, and I knew I was losing. I didn't even think she'd let me take her to the hospital this time.

"Let's go inside." I sighed and stood up. She continued to sit on the steps until I promised I wouldn't call the police. I grabbed her arm and helped her stand up and led her to the front door. I walked her inside and gently sat her down on the couch. I grabbed gloves from my dads office again and pointed the light towards her cheek.

"This needs stitches." I told her.

"If I go to the hospital they're only going to ask me questions."

"Why are you protecting him?" I asked, removing the gloves. "He locked you in the bathroom and now he's hitting you?"

"He's just having a rough time." She defended him. "It'll be fine, I just got in his way."

"That doesn't mean he should hit you!"

"I knew I shouldn't have come here!" She groaned as she tried to stand up. I blocked her and made her sit back down. "You're always doing this!"

"Doing what?" I asked, trying hard not to get annoyed.

"Trying to protect me and be this knight in shining armor."

"Yeah, that's what people who care about you do, Bella!" I reminded her. "They protect them from the people hurting them."

"I don't need protecting!"

"Then why did you stick around?" I asked, standing up and paced around the room. "I wanted to be your friend and at first you wanted nothing to do with me. So, why'd you let me in?"

"I don't know." She sighed. "I don't!"

"Stay here, please." I whispered as I stood up and went to the kitchen to grab some ice. I knew she needed stitches because that cut would leave a big, ugly scar if not. I didn't want to break her trust, but I also had to do something. I grabbed my phone out of my back pocket and dialed my dads phone number.

"Edward?" Dad asked when he answered the phone. I knew how important the time my parents got to spend with each other was since dad worked a lot...he knew I wouldn't call unless something was wrong. "Everything okay, son?"

"Bella showed up here when I was at the batting cages." I explained. "She has a pretty deep cut on her cheek and a black eye."

"So take her to the hospital." He sighed, sounding annoyed with me.

"She won't let me." I sighed. "I tried, but she won't budge and her cheek will scar if she doesn't get stitches."

"Put some ice on her eye and cover the cut with some gauze so it doesn't get infected." He told me after a long pause. "We'll be home as soon as we can."

"Thanks," I whispered and hung up the phone. I walked out into the living room and caught her looking at all of our family photos on the wall.

"That was my cousin's grad party last summer." I explained as she looked at the picture with me and my parents with my cousin Victoria.

"You called your dad?" She asked as I handed her the ice pack.

"Put this on your eye." I told her, ignoring her comment. "I'm going to get some gauze."

"Why would you do that when..."

"Because I don't want you to have a big, fat scar on your cheek." I told her. "You won't let me take you to the hospital, and my Dad has the stuff to do stitches here. Stop fighting me."

"Whatever." She sighed, putting the ice over her eye and sitting back down on the couch. I got the gauze from my Dad's office and gently placed it over the cut after cleaning it out. We sat in silence as we waited for the garage door to go up and I sighed in relief when it eventually did go up.

"Hi, Bella." Mom smiled as she came upstairs. Dad followed, looking annoyed that they had to cut their date night short. But, Dad loved helping people and I knew he was happy to help...even if he didn't show it. Dad took Bella into his office where the lighting was better and Mom and I sat down at the kitchen table.

"What's going on, Edward?" Mom asked.

"She won't tell me." I shrugged.

"I don't me what's going on with Bella," She shook her head. "I mean with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Breaking up with Tanya?" She asked and I stiffened up, not realizing she knew. "You haven't even mentioned her name in weeks. I figured it out for myself."

"I don't know," I said. "I mean, we just grew apart. Or...I grew apart from her."

"Because of Bella?" She asked.

"Kind of." I whispered. "But it isn't just because I like Bella. Tanya and I are really different and it wasn't until I started to get to know Bella that she really showed her true colors. She's mean to Bella, Mom. Even when I told her nothing was happening, she was mean to her and said horrible things."

"But something was happening with you and Bella."

"Not at first." I pointed out. "At first, I really did just want to be her friend because everyone deserves to have a friend. Bella didn't have any and no one cared to try and break down those walls she put up when she first moved here."

"I trust you," She whispered. "But, I do want you to be careful. Bella is a very guarded person, and I know you're very open. I just don't want you getting hurt right before Harvard."

"I know, Mom." I smiled knowing my mom really did just have my best interest in mind. A few minutes later, Bella stepped into the kitchen and my mom got up to get her some more ice for her eye. I saw my father out of the corner of my eye, and turned towards him. He motioned for me to follow him so I stood up and walked towards his office with him.

"What's up?" I asked as he slowly shut the door to his office. He turned towards me and crossed his arms. He raised his eyebrows at me and I just leaned up against his desk.

"What the hell is going on, Edward?" He asked in a hushed yell. "I told you not to get involved with her, and we've seemed to become her homeless shelter or something."

"Dad, chill." I sighed, not wanting to get into this. "She's a good person and she's my friend."

"The friend you broke up with Tanya for?" He asked and I bit my lip. "Yeah, I'm not clueless, Edward."

"What do you have against Bella?" I asked, trying not to lose my temper with him. I loved my Dad and he was a good person, but sometimes I just didn't understand him. "Is it because she doesn't have a lot of money? Or she's gotten into some trouble before?"

"You know I don't care if people have money or not." He said sternly. It was true. Dad looked past the money and tried to see the person behind it.

"Then what is so wrong with Bella?"

"Where's her dad, Edward?" He asked. "Why couldn't you take her to the hospital? I've worked in the ER long enough to when someone says the 'ran into something' they're being abused."

"Dad, please. Just respect her wishes." I begged. "She's eighteen and if she doesn't want to call the cops then she doesn't have to."

"I'm not doing this again, Edward." He warned. "Next time she comes here needing medical attention, I will gladly treat her at the hospital. But I'm not making my office her own personal doctors office." He told me. "Understand?"

"Yes, sir." I whispered as he opened the door and walked out. I took a deep break and followed him into the kitchen where Bella and my mom were sitting. Bella caught my eye and I motioned my head for her to follow me. We walked outside and stood on the porch until I heard her sniffling.

"Bella," I whispered as I reached out and stuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"He isn't a bad guy." She sighed as she looked up. "He needs help but we can't afford it."

"Let me help. Let my Dad help, he's a doctor. He knows the best places..."

"No!" She shouted. Everything with this girl was always one step forward and ten steps back. "He's all I got. I'll figure it out..."

"Bella, come on."

"I shouldn't have come here." She sighed as she ran down the steps and towards the street. I didn't see her truck anywhere and there was no way in hell she was walking.

"Would you stop?" I called as I followed her down the path towards the steps. "Bella!"

"Why do you care?" She asked. "Is it because we fucked earlier? Because just because we fucked in that closet doesn't mean I'm in love with you or you have the right to know my business."

"Would you stop screaming?" I asked praying my parents hadn't heard...or the neighbors for that matter. "The entire world doesn't need to know what happened this afternoon."

"Oh, boo hoo. Your perfect reputation would be ruined."

"Why is this so difficult for you tow wrap your head around?" I asked, trying to keep my cool. "I care about you. I've cared about you long before this afternoon. At first it was just as a friend but now...whatever it doesn't matter."

"Now what?" She asked, her body loosening up.

"Nothing. You'll just say I'm a fucking idiot or something." I whispered, not in the mood to be rejected again. "You wanna go to Jacob's?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Go stand by my car. I need to grab my keys." I whispered as I turned to go inside. I took a deep breath as I got my keys off the hook and turned back around. I pressed the unlock button on the fob and my car beeped. She opened the door hastily and slammed it shut.

"Do you mind?" I asked, annoyed. She was really starting to get to me. She ignored me and buckled her seatbelt. I rolled my eyes at her and buckled my own seatbelt and put the keys in the ignition. The drive to the reservation was silent, every time I tried to say something, nothing would come out.

It was like I had forgotten to speak or something.

I pulled up the dirt road that led to the small, red house. Jake was sitting outside, smoking a cigarette when I parked in front of the house. Bella got out and slammed the door shut without even a thank you and I was temped to chase her. But, she was actually starting to piss me off so I didn't bother.

I watched as she opened the door, but cocked an eye brown when Jake didn't follow her inside. I put the gear back into drive, but before I could press the gas, Jake caught my attention. He was waving his free hand at me, telling me not to go anywhere. I put the car back into park and rolled the window down.

"What's up?" I asked as he stalked over to my car, dropping his cigarette on the ground and stepping on it.

"Bella's been through a lot of shit in her life." He said as he leaned down. "And so has her dad. Don't judge them before you know all the facts."

"I'm not judging them, but he's physically hurting her." I argued.

"He's all she's got left." He shrugged. "She'll do anything she can to protect him because she couldn't do anything to pro..." He trailed off. "Anyway, just give her some slack."

"I just want to help her."

"You have helped her." He assured me. "Trust me, I haven't seen her this calm and okay since they moved here from Seattle."

"Whatever you say," I sighed. He turned and walked back to the house and I closed the window. I took a deep breath and put the car back into drive. I thought about going home, but I just couldn't yet. I felt trapped there right now after the talk with my Dad and I needed space. I pulled over a block away from my house and pulled my phone out.

I knew Rosalie had to be somewhere with her folks early in the morning so she wouldn't be spending the night with Emmett. I found his number in my phone and clicked it.

"Hello?" He answered after a few rings.

"You still wit Rose?" I asked, praying he wasn't.

"I just dropped her off." He told me. "What's up?"

"You wanna do something?" I asked.

"Like what?" He asked, sounding skeptical. It was ten thirty in Forks. Nothing was open...not even the diner.

"I don't know I just really don't want go home now." I sighed and he agreed to meet me at the school. I pulled in a few minutes after he had.

"I've got my tent in my car." He shrugged. "We could campout tonight if you want." We hadn't been camping since sophomore year for Jasper's birthday. Emmett only kept it in there in case he was stranded or Rosalie wanted to try something kinky.

"Too freaking cold." I laughed.

"Beach?" He asked, which would be even colder.

"Sure," I nodded. By beach he meant the river bank behind the school, so it wasn't a very far walk. I grabbed one of the blankets from my trunk and my puffer vest from the backseat and we headed towards the river. It was a really night for being December in Forks. Usually by this time it was so miserable it was hard to walk from your car to the school.

"What's up, dude?" He asked after we had finally arrived at the river. We set the blanket on one of the big rocks and sat down.

"Bella showed up again." I explained. "She had this big cut on her cheek and a black eye."

"Damn," He whispered. "She get beat up?"

"She keeps trying to tell me she's clumsy, but I'm not buying it." I told him. "I think it's her Dad but there isn't anyway to prove it because she keeps denying it and shutting me out."

"There's something about that guy..." He trailed off. "When they got here wasn't he a cop?"

"He was chief I think." I shrugged. "I have no idea what happened but he obviously isn't a cop anymore."

"Damn," He said again. Emmett and I spent the rest of the time at the river coming up with what could have happened in Seattle before they moved here. Her mom wasn't in the picture anymore so he could blame her for that. But maybe there was never a mother...other than for giving birth.

But no matter what theory's we came up with, nothing was true. I really wished Bella would open up to me, but the closer we got the further away she got.


	11. How People Can Be

**Chapter Eleven: How People Can Be**

* * *

It wasn't until the start of Christmas break that things got really bad. Bella hadn't been in school the week following the performance which didn't bother other people. Since she was gone though, I was forced to sit at the table with Rosalie and Tanya and it was painful. I hadn't realize how awful they really were until I'd gotten away from them.

The second day of break, I was getting dressed to go to the batting cages with Emmett and Jasper for some much needed guy time. I was just zipping my jacket up when my phone started to ring. I looked at the screen and an unknown number popped up.

"Hello?" I asked when I answered.

"Cullen, you gotta help." A familiar voice said in a state of panic.

"Jake?" I asked.

"Bella's dad...you gotta go help her, Edward." He told me and my heart dropped. I nearly dropped the phone, but I needed him to stay on the line.

"What happened?" I asked, going into panic mode and grabbing my keys and forgetting about everything else.

"I don't know." He breathed heavily. "I would go get her myself but my car isn't starting and I can't get ahold of anyone else."

"How do you know that something's wrong?" I asked as I got into my car.

"Charlie called my Dad totally wasted." He sighed. "All my dad got was Bella and help. This might not be anything but...Charlie isn't one to call my dad when he's done something he shouldn't have when he was drunk. It's bad."

"I'm on my way." I told him and hung up. I did my best to concentrate on the road, but it was becoming more difficult the closer I got to her house. The only car in the driveway was her old truck so I knew he'd run off somewhere. I didn't even bother knocking when I got to the door, and turned the knob.

Thankfully it was open.

"Bella?!" I called as I opened the door. I looked around the room and my heart stopped in my chest when I saw her laying at the bottom of the stairs. "Shit," I whispered as I ran over to her. She was breathing, but her pulse was pretty low. I grabbed my phone from my coat pocket and dialed 911.

"911 what's your emergency?" The dispatcher asked.

"My friend..." I started and then burst into tears. "I...I don't know what happened but she's not conscious. I need an ambulance."

"Okay, sir. What's the address?"

"22 Pine Road." I said and she told me help would be there soon. "You're okay." I sobbed, trying to compose myself. I reached out and grabbed her hand, it was the only thing I could do without moving her. If I moved her, I could possibly do more damage. "You're okay."

The ambulance arrived shortly after and I stepped aside and let the paramedics do their job. I called the hospital and told Jane to have my Dad ready for Bella. Once the paramedics had Bella on the stretcher, I followed them out and into the ambulance.

It was a quick drive to the hospital and my Dad was waiting in the ambulance bay when we got there. I sighed in relief when I saw him taking charge. Once they had her out of the ambulance, I hopped out and followed them in. Unfortunately, being the Chief's son only got you a few perks and I still wasn't able to go into the trauma room with them.

I sat in the ER waiting room and texted Emmett and Jasper what had happened. Then...I just sat there trying not to lose it again. I watched the clock as it ticked and looked at my phone every two minutes, hoping more time had gone by.

Finally, after an agonizing twenty minutes, my Dad came out to see me. I shot up like a rocket and raced over to him.

"I wanna see her." I argued as he held me back.

"Edward, please." He begged and I stopped trying to resist and turned around. "You wanna come back to my office."

"She's alive, right?" I asked, biting my lip. At this point, I didn't care that I was a senior in high school.

"Yes, Edward. She's alive." My dad smiled. I followed him through the hospital to his office. I always loved coming here as a kid. The walls were covered in fake medical degrees I made when I was little along with his accomplishments. I always felt special knowing he hung my stuff up along with his.

"Edward, what happened?" He asked as he sat down at his big chair.

"I don't know." I shrugged honestly. "Jake...her friend from the reservation...called me and told me that I needed to go help her. It was her dad."

"Oh," He swallowed hard. There weren't many things that got under Dad's skin now, but abuse was always something difficult for him to handle.

"She was next to the stairs when I found her." I explained. "I think he pushed her and then...bolted. He wasn't around when I got there."

"We're going to call the police and get this situated." He told me and I breathed some relief. "A lot worse could have happened. She's lucky she only got a concussion."

"That's it?"

"And some...internal bleeding."

"What?" I screeched.

"The fall...caused a splenic bleed, Edward." He explained. "They're prepping her for surgery now."

"You gotta do the surgery, Dad."

"Edward...I have..."

"She trusts you!" I shouted. "And I trust you. Please, Dad. I...I need you to do this." I pleaded and after a minute he finally agreed. He paged the doctor who was going to do the surgery and left me in his office. Knowing my Dad was with her gave me a lot of peace.

I sat in his office, playing solitaire on my phone and trying not to think about the surgery. But, that was proving to be a lot harder than I thought.

"Edward," I heard Emmett ask as he knocked on the door. "How is she?"

"How'd you know I was in here?" I asked.

"You weren't in the ER waiting room." He shrugged. "Jazz had to do something with his parents or else he would have come."

"Oh," I nodded, knowing Alice had probably told him to stay away.

"I have something that you might be interested in."

"Yeah?" I asked as he put a manilla envelope in front of me. "Emmett, what is this?"

"I did some research on Bella this morning after you texted us." He explained. "There's a lot of stuff that makes Bella who she is." He said and I opened the folder.

On top there was an obituary for a Renee Swan. My stomach dropped as I read it. She was only in her early forties and had died in a car accident. But nothing compared to the way I felt when I flipped to the next page and saw another obituary.

"Lauren Swan...age eighteen..." I couldn't even finish reading it out loud. "Wow,"

"There's...more." Emmett spoke up. "Bella's mom and sister died in a really tragic car accident." He explained. "There car went off a cliff in the middle of a really bad rain storm. One of the articles I read said they weren't even recognizable when they were finally found. They only knew who it was because of the license plate number."

"I'm gonna be sick," I whispered, really wanting to throw up. This explained so much. It explained why Bella was so closed off and why Jake was talking about she couldn't protect them. It made sense why she refused to call the police whenever I threatened to. It explained her Dad's drinking problem...that it wasn't that he was just a horrible problem.

He had lost his wife and daughter all at once and he was trying to cope with it.

That fact, however, didn't make up for the fact that he was beating Bella. But, it did make me want to help him and get him proper help. I didn't want him to rot in jail anymore.

"This is unbelievable..." I trailed off, thinking about how awful the people at school were towards her. It was bad enough when I didn't know what happened before she moved here. But knowing she'd been through so much already made me want to just get out of Forks as soon as possible.

"I know, it's heavy." Emmett sighed. "But, at least you can understand her better. I know you've been going crazy trying to figure her out."

"This is...only the beginning of it." I told him. "I mean there is so much more to her past than this."

I reached over the desk and grabbed my father's office phone. I knew my Mom would be home since she only worked half a day in the store on Wednesday's. I dialed our number and listened as the phone rang. She finally picked up and without any explanation asked her to come to the hospital.

Twenty minutes later, I could hear my mother's shoes clacking on the linoleum floor. The door sung open and she sighed in relief as I stood up to hug her. Emmett left us to grab a cup of coffee and we sat down. I explained what happened when Jake called me and the last update I'd gotten from Dad's OR. Then, I handed her the manilla envelope.

"Oh my gosh," She whispered, covering her mouth with her hand as she read through the obituary's and different news articles. "It makes a lot of sense why she's so determined to protect her father."

"Mom, he needs help." I sighed after she'd put the envelope back on the desk. "He needs help and they can't afford it. Bella doesn't even have money to put in her account for lunch, and she never packs. She sleeps in her truck a lot of the time in the schools parking lot and uses the schools shower before everyone else gets there."

"Why didn't you say something before?" She asked.

"She made me swear I wouldn't say anything." I shrugged. "And I know how lame that is, but I didn't want to ruin the little trust she had for me."

"Well, I'm sure your father can pull some strings." She sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "Eighteen," She whispered. "You're eighteen." She reminded me and then looked up, her eyes filling with tears.

"Mom, I'm okay." I assured her. "I'm right here."

"Anything can happen though, Edward."

"I know, but I'm okay." I said again. "Bella's not, through."

"Well, we'll tell your father when he gets out of surgery and then he'll get her Dad the help he needs."

"Mom...I've been thinking."

"Oh no," She laughed. "What, Edward?"

"I was wondering...if Bella could move in with us for the rest of the year?"

"Edward," She snapped and stood up.

"It's her senior year and she's been through a lot." I explained as I stood up. "I think she's starting to have a feeling of stability in her life and pulling her away from Forks to live with a distant relative isn't going to be good." I told her. "She has friends here. Good friends who love her and want the best for her."

"These friends being you and Emmett?" She asked, but she wasn't barking at me like my dad would have. She was just trying to work this out out loud.

"No, she's good friends with a lot of the people who live on the reservation." I told her. "Her parents were friends with some of them before the accident. That's how they ended up in Forks."

"Edward, I don't know." She sighed.

"I know it's a lot to ask, but..." I trailed off. "I love her and I don't want to see her go. And I want her Dad to get the help that he needs."

"You're father and I can talk about this when he's done." She finally told me, and I was feeling helpful. I could see the look on my mom's face and knew I had won her over. And if Mom was on board, it was only a matter of time before Dad said yes. He would say no at first, but it was something my mother wanted and she typically got her way.

The two of use waited in Dad's office for the remainder of her surgery. Finally, the phone rang and the scrub nurse told us they were wheeling Bella off to recovery. When I asked how everything went, she told me to just wait for my father and hung up. I paced around the room until I heard footsteps stopping in front of his door.

"Dad!" I said hurriedly and raced over to him.

"She's fine." He assured me. "It was a very textbook surgery."

"She's okay?" I asked, just need him to say it again.

"She's going to make a full recovery." He smiled at me. "She's lucky Jake knew to call you. How did he know to call you?" I shrugged. "Either way, that father of her isn't getting away with this again."

"Carlisle, before you say anything else, there is something you need to know." Mom said. Dad sat down on his big office chair and groaned. I knew he just wanted to sit and relax for a few minutes before needing to go deal with something else. But, this was Mom who was talking to him so he wasn't going to get a chance to just relax.

"Eighteen?" He asked after he had read the papers mom had given him. Dad looked up at me, and swallowed hard. With the job he had, Dad was really good at taking bad news well. The age of Bella's sister seemed to be a common theme running through my parents minds.

"It sounds, based on the date of her death...she was only a month or so from graduating." I said, choking back tears. "There's more."

"I'll get Charlie the helps he needs." Dad nodded. "I'll make some calls this weekend."

"More than that." I whispered and Dad raised his eyebrows at me. "I want Bella to come live with us."

"Edward, don't be ridiculous." Dad scoffed, rolling his eyes. "What is the matter with you lately?"

"Hear him out, Carlisle." Mom pleaded.

"This is her senior year. With everything else that happened in her life, I think Forks is a safe place for her." I explained. "And, she has friends that live on the reservation, and she knew them before they moved here."

"How?" He asked. Dad was a scientist, he liked having all the facts he could.

"Her parents were friends with their parents." I shrugged. "They knew each other long before the accident, and pulling her away from those friends isn't going to be good for her."

"Or you." Dad said, his lips pressed together. "Isn't that right?"

"Dad, this is so much more than me." I sighed. "I love her. I won't lie to you. I love her, and I want whats going to be best for her."

"So moving her into our house is what's best?" He asked. "For her?"

"Moving her into a safe house where she'll be fed and have a bed to sleep in every night is what's best, Dad." I told him, trying to keep my cool.

"She'll have that if she moves in with another relative." He shrugged. "No, Edward. My answer is no."

"But, Dad!" I argued.

"Edward, go for a walk." My mom interrupted calmly. "Get some coffee." She ordered and I nodded, knowing if I stayed I'd say something I would really regret.

I took a few laps around the hospital and tried multiple times to get ahold of Jake. He wasn't picking up and Emmett had bailed. I did what my mom had told me and went to the cafeteria and got a gross cup of coffee. But, I was so exhausted I didn't care and gulped it down. I made my way to the ICU and tried to get into see Bella. But, the nurse at the desk kindly reminded me that I couldn't see her unless I was family while she was in the ICU.

After an hour, I made my way back to Dad's office. The door was wide open which I found strange, but didn't give it a second thought. I walked in and my mom was sitting at one of the chairs, her head in her hands.

"Mom?" I asked quietly.

"Dad's pissed." She sighed. "But, we'll move Bella in once she's out of the hospital."

"Really?" I asked, trying not to sound too excited since I'd caused a big riff between them. Probably one of their biggest fights.

"Don't you dare mess this up, Edward." She said as she walked up to me. "I swear if you knock her up or something...I'll kill you myself."

"Noted." I said as my eyes bugged out of my head. "That isn't going to happen."

"Damn right it isn't."

"Where's Dad?" I asked, just wanting to change the subject.

"Talking to the police." She sighed. "He needs to answer questions about her injuries."

"Do they need anyone else?" I asked and she shrugged. "Mom?"

"What, Edward?" She barked. There weren't many times when my mother was short with me, so I knew this was a much bigger deal than I thought it would be.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you and Dad to get in this big of an argument..." I trailed off. "But thank you for going to bat for me."

"You're my son and you were hurting." She smiled. "If it had been anyone but your father...trust me it would have been much worse." She told me, making me smile for the first time all day.


	12. Give Me Reasons

**Chapter Twelve: Give Me Reasons**

* * *

"There will be rules." Dad said sternly as we sat at the kitchen table later that night. He was pissed, but I knew my Dad. He would rather have Bella here than let her stay with Charlie or even her car. "You better believe there will be rules."

"I understand." I nodded, knowing completely that Dad had the power to tell Bella she couldn't live here anymore. "What are they?"

"You're school work will not come second." He said. I thought out of all the rules he had, it was strange that school was number one. "If your grades slip, there will be consequences."

"Okay," I sighed.

"There will be no sleepovers." Mom said sternly. "You will each sleep in each others rooms, no matter what." I nodded. "You two will also keep the door open when you're in each others room during the day."

"All the time?" I asked, suddenly regretting it.

"Yes, Edward." She stared me down. "All the time, and all the way open."

"Is that a problem?" Dad asked.

"No, sir." I gulped.

"You two will have a curfew." He said.

"I don't even have a curfew now!" I argued. "Come on, that's not fair."

"You'll have a curfew when you two go out together." He finished. "If you're with Emmett, I don't care how late you stay out as long as you stay out of trouble."

"But, we'll find out if you're lying." Mom threatened. "So don't be stupid. And, lastly, she's going to need to get her grades up as well."

"Isn't that a little much to ask her?" I asked. "I mean, you're doing this favor for me."

"I don't think it's too much to ask since she'll be living here for free." Dad glared. "We aren't asking her to get straight A's, but she at least has to try in school. Study for tests and do her homework."

"That's all up to her." I tried to argue. I didn't want her to have to deal with this kind of stuff.

"It is," Dad agreed. "But, you're going to be working with her to help get her grades up."

"I have school too!" I belted. "And baseball. Come on." I wined.

"She's in regular classes." Dad pointed out. "You should be able to breeze through it."

"Knowing how to do it and teaching someone how to do it are very different."

"You're a tutor." Mom pointed out. "Come on, sweetie. Don't you want her to do well?"

"Of course I do." I sighed. I just didn't want her grades to be a condition. "I'll do my best with helping her get her grades up."

"Good," Dad nodded. "Also, three strikes and she's out, Edward." He told me. "If you're caught not complying with these rules and she's going to have to go somewhere else."

"I understand." I nodded. I knew they were serious, and I really wanted to show them that I was confident in my decision to ask for her to live with us. "When is she going to be out of the ICU?"

"A few days." He said. "Not until after Christmas." I nodded and he stood up from the table and walked out of the room. I looked at my mom who gave me a small smile and a head nod. Telling me to go talk to him. He was pissed at me, even more than normal. I was asking him to change his entire life for Bella, a girl he didn't particularly like.

"Dad?" I asked as I softly knocked on his office door. I pushed the door open and his back was turned towards me. He was look at the pictures placed on the top of the short filing cabinets behind his desk.

"As a parent..." He trailed off. "I can't imagine the pain Charlie must be in." So, his coldness wasn't all about Bella and me turning his life upside down. "She was your age Edward."

"I know," I whispered, shutting the door and sitting down in the leather chair in front of his desk.

"Being a doctor..." He whispered, turing around to look at me. "I've seen a lot of people die before their time and it sucks every time. But, I've learned to deal with it." He took a deep breath. "If I lost you Edward...I would never recover."

"Dad, what's this all about?" I asked, confused since he never got emotional because of his job. He learned to separate emotions from everyday life a long time ago. "Are you afraid Bella's going to get me killed?"

"Yes." He said immediately, and I was taken back. "She's a lose cannon, Edward. And I feel for her and her father...losing her sister was probably the worst thing that could ever happen to her."

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is she's...a bomb waiting to go off." He shrugged. "Look at her father, I mean he was a cop for goodness sake and he's drinking himself silly and pushing his daughter down the stairs? What's she going to do once she spirals?"

"She is not her father." I argued. "Look, Bella's a broken person but she'd never hurt anyone. She's scared of everything. She walks tall, but inside she's dying. And I think giving her stability by living here is going to make sure that the bomb inside of her doesn't go off."

"Why now, Edward?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "They've lived in Forks for three years, so now why the sudden interest in Bella?"

"I think after being in the real world for a bit while we were visiting colleges gave me a new perspective." I shrugged. "Honestly, she wasn't someone I really paid attention to earlier and when I saw that she couldn't even pay for a dollar apple...I just wanted to help her out and then everything happened."

"I raised you too well." Dad laughed. "Please don't make me regret this, Edward."

"I won't." I tried to assure him.

"Go do some homework." He said. We were getting to chummy for his liking, and I understood that. I got up and went upstairs to my room to work on my calculus homework. But, I couldn't focus. I needed to know how she was doing and until I knew, I wasn't going to get any work done.

At least calculus work.

So, I grabbed my government book from my bag and started reading one of the chapters assigned to us. I was just thankful Mrs. Lowe gave us reading and not a paper like my English teacher.

* * *

"She's moving in?" Jasper asked the day after Christmas as we drove to the batting cages. "She doesn't have any family?"

"Yes, she has family." I sighed as I pulled into Emmett's driveway. "But, I...we just thought it would be best if she stayed in Forks."

"Why?" He asked as Emmett opened the backseat door.

"Why what?" He asked as he slammed the door shut.

"We thought that Forks has been the only stable thing in her life since the accident and it would be better if she wasn't shipped off across the country."

"Bella?" Emmett asked, trying to catch up on the conversation.

"Yeah, Bella." Jasper sighed. I knew he wasn't Bella's biggest fan since I broke things off with Tanya. He was in a constant tug of war between them and me, and it was starting to ware him out. Emmett, on the other hand, didn't care at all and Rosalie knew she wasn't going to change his mind.

He was too much of a teddy bear to dislike anyone and no one could dislike him because of it. It was a weird circle.

"Look, Jazz." I sighed as I pulled out onto the main road. "I don't want you to pick sides."

"You kinda are." He shrugged.

"No. Alice, Tanya, and Rose are asking you to pick sides." I reminded him. "I could care less. But, you're my friend and I don't want you living in hell everyday. You don't have to become best friends with Bella."

"Okay?" He said, sounding confused as to where I was going.

"But I would appreciate it if you at least gave her a chance." I said, flipping my turn signal to turn into the parking lot. "And at least gave her the time of day."

"Yeah," He eventually nodded. "I can do that. You really like her this much, man?" He asked as we got out of the car and grabbed our things from the trunk. I looked over at Emmett who smirked, and then shrugged his shoulders. He knew exactly how I felt about Bella.

"I love her, Jasper." I admitted. He was one of my best friends and I didn't want to be lying to him. I also wanted him to know this wasn't some phase that would end once we graduated. "Doing that Romeo and Juliet scene just..." I trailed off. "Sparked something that I never had with Tanya."

"You love her?" He asked. "I mean I knew you two did it at school..."

"Shhhhhh." Emmett and I shushed at the same time.

"But just because you fuck someone doesn't mean love."

"Jasper, you should know Edward better than this." Emmett pointed out. "He would never just fuck 'em and leave 'em. He does everything with full commitment."

Wow...you love her?" Jasper asked like he was really trying to understand this concept.

"I do." I nodded. He bit his lip and nodded like he was trying to digest everything that was happening. "You didn't love Tanya, did you?"

"Not like I thought I did." I answered honestly. "I mean I loved her as a friend, but not the way I love Bella."

Jasper took a deep breath, and I figured it was time for this conversation to end. I hated that he was in the middle of it, but I was actually kind of surprised. Alice was always so kind and even when she didn't agree with someone, she didn't do stuff like this.

Her acting like this and making Jasper practically pick sides had Rosalie written all over it.

I was starting to not understand what Emmett saw in her. I mean, she was gorgeous and smart and ambitious, but I was starting to think she didn't have one nice bone in her body. Emmett was a teddy bear and she seemed like the girl who would rip the heads off of her Barbie dolls so her dad would buy her a new one. He was too good for her, and I hoped he realized that soon.

The three of us used the time at the batting cages to catch up. Since breaking up with Tanya, I hadn't seen much of Jasper. Which, was mostly because I couldn't stand to be around Tanya and her and Alice were a package deal. And then, of course, Alice and Jasper were a package deal. It was nice to just talk to him and have it be like old times.

Emmett, Jasper, and I had drifted apart since senior year started. Half because of everything that happened with Tanya and half because we were going in very directions after high school. Emmett was staying here in Washington, Jasper was headed to Texas and I was, hopefully, headed for Boston. The three of use were complete opposites, which is why we were such good friends. We just worked, but for once, our differences were coming between us.

"I'm done," Jasper breathed after I'd hit my last ball. "I gotta get home. Tan...Alice and I are doing something."

"Jazz, you can say her name in front of me." I reminded him. "If you're doing something with Tanya, whatever. I don't care."

"'Right," He whispered, his cheeks turning pink. We gathered our stuff and Emmett jumped in the front this time. I dropped Jasper off first since Emmett had asked to talk to me afterwards. I drove us to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee before going back to my place.

"You okay?" I asked as I sat down at the kitchen table and he just kept pacing. "You're squirmy."

"Do you think Rosalie and I...do you think we should break up?" He asked and I just stared blankly at him. I figured they'd break up, but I didn't think it would be before graduation.

"Do you think you should break up?" I asked. I knew he wanted a concrete answer from me, but I couldn't give him that. He needed to figure things out for himself.

"I don't know." He shook his head. "I mean, she's great to me and to her friends..most of the time. But, this whole Bella thing is really bringing out a new side to her and I'm not sure if I like it. She's really mean to Bella."

"Yeah, she's mean to everyone, Emmett." I pointed out. "She just hides it better."

"Oh," He nodded sadly. "She's a completely different person when we're alone." He told me. "She's sweet and gentle and she smiles. Edward, she smiles a lot when we're alone together."

Rosalie didn't smile a lot. She only smirked and scowled.

"But...at school and when we're with other people she turns into this person I don't know." He said. "And she wasn't like that when we started dating. You knew her before, dude, she's different...right?"

"Honestly, I always thought Rosalie was a mean, spoiled brat." I told him. "She was my friend and most of the time I was able to put that aside. But, she's never been a very nice person, Em. Like I said, she was better at hiding how mean she was."

When he looked up at me, he looked like I had killed his dog.

"But, if you love her then don't let me stop you." I told him. All I wanted was for him to be happy and if she made him happy...there wasn't anything I could do. "This is something you have to think about and this is something I can't help you with."

* * *

I drove Emmett home after he'd finished thinking out loud and made my way to the hospital. I helped the steering wheel so tight that my knuckles were turning white. I couldn't help it. I was seeing Bella for the first time since the accident and I was going to ask her to move into our house.

I turned into the main entrances parking lot and parked near the door. I walked inside and asked the nurse working the desk Bella's information and she gave it to me with a smile. I made my way to the elevator and pushed the button. I made my way up to the floor Bella was on and stepped off the elevator.

When I got to her room, the door was left slightly open and I gently knocked before pushing it open. I smiled when I saw her sleeping in her bed. She looked so peaceful and the bruise on her cheek was already starting to heal, as was the cut on her forehead. I quietly sat down in the chair next to her bed, grabbing her hand.

She began to move when I gave her hand a soft squeeze. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked around confused.

"Hey," I smiled nervously, giving her hand another squeeze. "How are you doing?"

"Water?" She asked, her voice dry and raspy. I nodded and grabbed the pink cup from her nightstand and went to the bathroom to fill it up. When I gave it back to her, she chugged the small cup of water and sighed in refreshment. "Thanks."

"Yeah," I whispered sitting back down.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Do you remember anything?" I asked cautiously, not wanting to set her off.

"I remember my Dad and I were having a fight." She said slowly. "He was angry with me because I hadn't done the grocery shopping yet and he was hungry. Then...he told me that I was a waste of space and when I tried pushing past him to leave, he pushed me."

"Oh, God...Bella." I whispered, trying not to get too emotional. "Jake called me after it had happened. You had some internal bleeding, which they stopped with surgery, and a concussion. You're gonna be fine, though. My Dad did the surgery and he's pretty good as his job."

"Your Dad did the surgery?" She asked. "Doesn't he have better things to do?"

"Nope." I smiled.

"You know about Seattle, don't you?" She asked out of the blue and I had to take a deep breath before saying anything. "You have a look of fear and sympathy on your face. It's the same look everyone in town had at the funeral and up until we moved."

"Emmett did some digging." I admitted. "I didn't ask him to do it, he just brought me a bunch of stuff to read."

"See why I'm always protecting my Dad?" She asked, her eyes filling with tears. "I don't like him at all, but he's all I have left. I can't leave him."

"Your Dad was arrested the day of the accident." I explained and her eyes went wide with surprise and anger. "Dad didn't have a choice, Bella."

"Fucking perfect!" She screamed. "I knew I shouldn't have let you in!"

"Bella, stop!" I told her. "He was arrested and brought to rehab."

"We can't afford that."

"I'm paying for it." I shrugged my shoulders. "Along with my parents."

"I am not a charity case. How many times do I have to tell you this?" She asked.

"This isn't because I pity you or want to put something else on my college application." I told her. "Bella, I..." I trailed off.

"You what?" She barked.

"I love you." I admitted. "And I want you to be safe and if your dad keeps drinking the way he is...he's going to do a lot more damage or end up killing himself. I don't want that to happen, so I offered to pay for his rehab."

"How long will he be there?" She asked, finally letting me in and finally realizing that I genuinely wanted to help her.

"At least three months." I told her. "And, until your dad is out of rehab and back on his feet, I want you to come live with us."

"You've got to be kidding." She laughed. "You want me to live with you? I'm eighteen, I can do what I want."

"Yeah, you can." I nodded. "You can go and live in your car for the rest of senior year and you can shower in the schools locker room and you can live off of apples and stale bread. Or, you can come live at my house and sleep in a bed and have oatmeal or Coco Puffs for breakfast."

"That's too much." She argued. "And your parents would never go for it."

"They already agreed to it." I told her, and she was losing the battle. "It's all taken care of and all you have to do is accept."

"Your friends aren't going to be happy."

"Fuck them if they have a problem with it." I told her, and she smiled. "I don't care what Rosalie or Tanya or Jasper has to say. You're important to me and that's all that matters."

Bella didn't have anything else to say and she just nodded. I sighed in relief and I was incredibly happy to have her staying with us for a while. It wasn't going to be easy, but it was going to be so worth it.


	13. Just Let it Be

**Chapter Thirteen: Just Let it Be**

* * *

Bella was still in the hospital by the time it was time to go back to school, and Dad said she had a long road of recovery ahead of her. I hated that her Dad was able to do this to her with one push, but I just had to believe it was because of the alcohol. To keep my promise to my parents, I brought Bella her homework and helped teach her the lessons. She was way smarter than she let people believe, and I was starting to think if she'd applied herself more, she would be in the top ten in our class.

Emmett still hadn't decided what to do about Rosalie, but he was definitely spending a lot less time with her. He kept making up excuses, but I knew he needed to space to clear his head. He was right. She was a lot nicer back when we started high school, but then everything at home went to crap for her and she brought all of her anger and resentment to school.

When school ended on Friday afternoon, I could not have been happier to just get home and spend some time with Bella. She was still so cautious and iffy about moving in with us, but so far it had been going well. She was grateful for all that my parents were doing, especially my Dad for paying for the surgery and her hospital bill. I wanted to redecorate the room she was staying in, and while Mom agreed, Bella told me it was too much since everything was just temporary.

"Hey," I whispered as I walked into her room. I smiled when I noticed all of her textbooks sprawled out on her bed along with some of the classics she'd asked for. "I brought you something."

"Woo, more homework." She laughed. Ever since the accident, she had come out of her shell a lot. She still didn't want to talk about her life back in Seattle, but I had a feeling once she was ready, she would tell me. So, we talked a lot about books, movies, and my childhood. I didn't miss the sad look in her eyes when I talked about how I hated being an only child, but then always told me siblings were overrated.

At least she was able to joke about it to a degree.

"It's not that much." I told her, putting the folder on her nightstand. "It's mostly trig."

"My favorite." She rolled her eyes. As smart as she was, Bella was not very good at math and we spent most nights going over her trig homework. My Dad was starting to worry about my own work slipping since I was spending so much time tutoring her, but I told him I mostly sat there and did my own homework and answered questions when she needed them.

Things with my Dad had also gotten better since Bella came home from the hospital. I couldn't help but think it was the fact that he finally got the 'daughter' hime and my Mom never had. I knew they wanted more kids after me, but with my Dad's demanding job, they never had that chance. I watched the way he gently handled Bella as he helped her get in and out of bed and the way he smiled when she would talk at the dinner table.

My Dad was such a softy, and it was nice to actually see it once and a while.

"How was your day?" She asked, sitting up and resting against the headboard.

"Boring." I shrugged. As good as the AP classes were at Forks, I was starting to get bored with them. It wasn't that the subjects were too easy, but some of my teachers made them too easy. They never seemed to challenge us the way I knew college would soon. "But, my gov exam got pushed back until Wednesday."

"Good, then you have time to help me with trig." She laughed. "Your Dad thinks I should be able to go back to school midweek."

"Yeah?" I asked, trying not to sound overly excited. Bella and I still hadn't technically decided what we were, and I wasn't going to push her to have that conversation. She knew how I felt and I wanted her to be able to choose what she wanted for once.

"He said sine it wasn't that bad of a rupture, it was healing pretty quickly and I should be good by Wednesday."

"Good, I miss having you there." I smiled, grabbing her knee and giving it a squeeze. "You're the only one who is actually worth talking to. Besides Jasper and Emmett."

"Tanya still hate you?"

"She'd squish me like a bug if she could." I laughed. "And Rosalie's still a bitch and forcing Alice to pick sides which mean Jasper is still in this weird middle."

"So I was..." She trailed off and took a deep breath. "Thinking."

"Okay?"

"And I was wondering...if when I was feeling one hundred percent again..." She took a deep breath. "If you might want to go out." She stopped again. "On a date."

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I would like that."

"Cool." She sighed, trying to pretend like it was no big deal. I stayed in her room while she read some more of _Emma_ , and I got some homework done. This was something I never really had with Tanya. I always had to be entertaining her and there was never a lot of time for homework or quiet time with her. But, with Bella, I was able to concentrate on my homework without having to be away from her.

"Edward!" Mom called up the stairs after the doorbell had rung. "Emmett and Jasper are here, sweetie."

"Jasper's here." Bella smiled. "That's a good sign."

"Let's hope." I sighed, putting my book aside and walking downstairs. Emmett was pacing around the living room and I thought he was going to put a hole in the floor. When I got downstairs, he looked at me with wide eyes and I wasn't sure what his next move would be.

"Em?" I asked, walking over to him and looking over at Jasper who only shrugged.

"He kidnapped me." Jasper said with a smirk. "We might have to help him burry a body."

"I broke up with Rosalie." Emmett blurted out, leaving us speechless. I didn't think he was actually going to break up with her until after graduation. This was a surprise, even though he'd been talking about it.

"Yeah, we're going to have to help bury his body when Rosalie gets him." Jasper laughed, trying to break the tension.

"She was just being so rude to this girl, who by the way, is a sophomore." He pointed out. "Who was our waitress at dinner and I just snapped. I went ballistic."

"You dumped her in public?" Jasper asked, and I wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or not. "Ouch."

"I wasn't planning on it." Emmett reminded us. "I'm literally going to die tonight."

"You're exaggerating." I rolled my eyes. "What...exactly did you say to her?"

"I..." He stopped and thought about it. "I may have called her a selfish, heartless, bitch."

"Wow, good adjectives." Jasper sighed as Emmett slumped down on the couch next to Jasper.

"You okay, man?" I asked. As mean as Rosalie was, she loved Emmett and he loved her. I didn't think they were going to be together forever, but breaking up now was really sudden.

"Yeah," He nodded and I actually believed him. "I mean, this was coming for a while, I just wish it didn't end like this." He started to laugh. "We sure know how to pick 'em, don't we?"

"Hey, Alice is totally normal." Jasper defended, holding his hands up.

"No she's not." I rolled my eyes. "But, she's better than Rose and Tanya."

"Truth." Emmett agreed. "She's going to make my life hell, isn't she?"

"At least we only have four and a half months left." I reminded him. "Then you never have to see her again."

"Unless she goes to Seattle U!" He snapped. "She's going to follow me..."

"No she won't." Jasper sighed. "The only reason she wanted to go there was for you. She's going to LA for sure now."

"LA?" I asked. I'd never heard her mention LA before.

"Yeah, Alice told me she was applying to USC as one of her backups if she didn't end up liking Seattle U." Jasper explained. "Plus, she's definitely the Malibu Barbie type."

"High school." I sighed. "What a time to be alive."

"Or dead if you're Emmett." Jasper smirked. Emmett pressed one of the couch pillows to his face and for the first time in a long time, it was so nice to just spend time with them without girlfriends around or without being at school or practice.

* * *

Bella and I sat in my car for a long time Wednesday morning. I usually spend the time before school started trying to get ahead in certain classes, but she just wasn't ready to get out of the car. I knew she thought the car was a safe place, but we wouldn't be able to sit in here all day. At some point, she was going to have to shake it all off and step inside those doors.

"What are people saying?" She asked as I watched the clock. We were going to have to go inside soon or else we'd be locked out and my Dad would not be happy about that.

"Don't worry about it." I shook my head. I didn't want her thinking about the assholes inside, because of course they'd been talking. They were always talking, and Bella's hospitalization sparked two weeks worth of gossip. I knew Rose was the starter of most of it, but other people had managed to get sucked in.

"Edward, please." She pleaded, turning her head and locking eyes with me.

"Someone," Rosalie. "Said that..." I trailed off because I almost killed her when I heard what she'd said, and it took Jasper and Mike to pull me away.

"Tell me." She nudged.

"They said you'd had an abortion that went terribly wrong." I whispered and she bit her lip, turning away to look out the window. "Don't listen to it. They're a bunch of idiots."

"Okay, then why don't you become the center of gossipville and tell me how you feel after." She spat.

"Bella, come on." I whispered. I didn't want to fight with her because I wasn't the enemy. I was the one who wanted to help her the most.

"I just can't wait to get out of here." She whispered, turning back to me with tears in her eyes. "They don'y know s single thing about me...why is it so easy for them to come up with this stuff?"

"Because, they have no life." I shrugged, bringing my hand up to gently cup her cheek. "Because they're bored in Forks and don't want people talking about what is actually happening in their lives."

"Rosalie started it, didn't she?"

"Yeah," I couldn't lie to her. "Because she doesn't want people talking about the fact that Emmett dumped her in public and royally embarrassed her." I whispered. "But, I'm here now, Bella. I'm here for you and I want you to know that."

"We should get inside." She said, looking at the clock and opening her door. I grabbed her bag from the backseat and slung it over my shoulder along with my own bag, and ran up beside her. We walked up the steps together, and she stopped to take a deep breath.

"You can do this." I assured her as she laced her fingers through mine. I couldn't help but smile at the small victory since I was usually the one initiating things. I pulled the door open, stepping back to let her walk inside first. I knew all eyes were on us as we walked down the hall, but I couldn't have cared one bit. For once, I was genuinely over the moon happy and I knew Bella was too.

That's what mattered and everyone else could go to hell. Bella let go and grabbed her bag to go down to her locker while I stopped at mine to get ready for the morning. I went down to meet Bella at her locker, but by the time I got there, Rosalie was already hovering over her.

"Whose was it?" I could hear Rosalie torment. "Mike's? Tyler's? That guy you brought to homecoming?"

"Fuck off, Rosalie." I barked, stepping in between her and Bella. "Go pick on someone else. Or, do you just not have anything better to do since Emmett finally broke up with you?"

"You deserve each other." She snapped before turning away. I turned to Bella and gripped her shoulders, trying to keep her calm as she shoved her head into her locker. I knew she always tried to play it cool and like she didn't care, but every single time Rosalie did something like that, she broke something in Bella.

"You're okay." I whispered as she turned and buried her head in my chest. I could feel her shaking beneath me, and I just held her tightly until the bell for homeroom rang. I walked her to her homeroom, really thankful that none of them, except for Jasper, had the some homeroom.

I quickly walked down the hall towards my homeroom, and sat down near Alice like I always did. When I sat down, I could feel her eyes on me and before I could ask her what her issue was, the teacher started taking attendance.

"Edward?" Alice whispered as they were going through the announcements.

"What?" I asked, trying not to sound cold. Alice was so much better than Rosalie and I was still having a hard time figuring out why she continued to stay friends with her.

"I had no idea Rosalie was saying all that stuff." She said sadly. I turned around in my seat, and she looked extremely guilty. "I didn't know she was the one who started that rumor about Bella having an abortion. Not until I saw her talking to her this morning."

"I know, Alice." I whispered. "I didn't think you had anything to do with it." And that was true. There were some things Alice did to please Rosalie, but being mean and helping to spread nasty rumors wasn't something she would do. She was better than that, and I knew Jasper wouldn't put up with it if she was doing that. He wasn't as kind and forgiving as Emmett was with Rosalie.

"And...I'm really sorry for the way I've been treating you these past few months." She shrugged. "And I'm going to apologize to Bella when I see her.

"Thanks," I smiled. It was good to know my friends were still in there, even if Rosalie had brainwashed them.

When I got to chemistry first period, I could feel Tanya's dagger eyes on me as I sat down behind Jasper. She knew I had a thing with Bella, but since the Romeo and Juliet kiss, we hadn't been public about it. That is, until today when Bella grabbed my hand when we walked inside. I ignored her like I usually did, but it was getting progressively harder to concentrate when she kept staring at me.

"Knock it off." I whispered when I glanced over at her while the teachers back was towards the class.

"Was it yours?" She asked with a smirk on her face.

"Tanya, get a life." I snapped. "And stop listening to everything Rosalie tells you because nine times out of ten she's lying."

"Excuse me." Mr. McGuire asked as he turned around. Great, he'd heard us. "Is there anything you'd like to share with the class?"

"We were just talking about how sad it is that Bella aborted Edward's baby." Tanya laughed and for a second, I swear I saw the devil in her eyes.

"Fuck. Off." I growled.

"Mr. Cullen, I'd like to see you after class." McGuire said as he turned back to the board to continue writing things for us to copy. Shit, this was not good. When I turned back to Tanya, she was grinning like an idiot and I suddenly couldn't understand what I saw her in her for two years.

Once the bell rang, I collected my things and went up to Mr. McGuire's desk. He had his arms crossed, looking angry and disappointed with me, but I didn't care. Tanya shouldn't get away with saying things like that.

"What do you have to say for yourself, Edward?" He asked.

"What Tanya said was wrong and she shouldn't be saying things like that." I shrugged. "I wasn't going to sit there and let her torment my girlfriend."

"Regardless of whether she was right or wrong," He sighed. "You can't be using language like that in my class."

"Yes, sir." I whispered, looking down at the ground. I was a teachers pet, and had been since the second grade, and I hated getting in trouble in class.

"But, since you've never acted out before I'm going to let you off with a warning." He told me and I let out a sigh of relief. "Don't do it again."

"I won't." I nodded as he grabbed a sheet of paper out of his desk to write me an excuse for being late to my next class.

I decided to stay in drama for the rest of the year, mostly because it was the only time of day except for lunch I saw Bella, but I had also grown to really enjoy it. Mr. Auburn was trying to coax me into doing the spring play, but with everything else I had to do, I had to tell him no. But, I told Bella I would be there every single night to support her and the rest of the cast.

I was finally excited for lunch when the bell rang, and I hadn't been too thrilled for lunch in a while. Bella and I grabbed our lunches from our lockers before going into the cafeteria, and I was surprised to see Jasper, Emmett, and Alice sitting at the table Bella usually sat at. I looked over at her, making sure she was okay with it and she was smiling. Things might have been turning around.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked as we sat down. I knew why Emmett wasn't going to sit with Rosalie, but I was surprised Alice was willing to go against her.

"Change is good." Alice shrugged, taking a bite of her salad. "Plus, I don't really feel like listening to Rose today."

"And I wasn't going to sit there by myself." Jasper laughed, and I threw one of my chips at him. It was amazing to watch the way Bella interacted with my friends, and the way my friends so easily got along with her. I knew Rosalie had told them some pretty awful stuff, but I knew they weren't thinking about any of that as we ate our lunch.

At one point, I looked up at the old table we sat at, and laughed when I saw Tanya and Rosalie sitting there by themselves. Rosalie was staring at us, holding her plastic fork so hard I thought she was going to break it. Tanya was just staring down at her food, and it looked like she was actually crying into her sandwich. I didn't feel sorry for them, though. They got what they deserved and they had managed to alienate all of their friends.

Misery loved company, though, so at least they had each other.

I nudged Emmett who was sitting next to me, and pointed towards the two of them. He turned around and I started cracking up when Rose gave him the finger, but he just gave it right back to her. I clapped him on the back in approval before we both turned back to the conversation Bella and Alice were having.

"So, we're having a birthday party for Jasper next weekend." Alice told Bella. "You wanna come?" She asked, and I thought it was nice that she asked her, even though I was going to bring her with me.

"Oh, ah..." She stopped and looked up at me. I gave her a gentle smile and nodded my head, assuring her this was a good thing.


	14. All the Scars You Hide

**Chapter Fourteen: All the Scars You Hide**

* * *

"Come on, Cullen!" Coach yelled from the sidelines. Baseball season had officially started, and even though it was only twenty degrees out, we were still practicing. "Get it together!"

It was only the second practice, and although I kept up with hitting and pitching at the batting cages, I still had to get in the groove of fielding again. After another few balls, I got back into my rhythm and practice started going a lot smoother. By the time we were done, I was a sweaty mess despite the cold air. I went in the locker room with the rest of my team, got myself showered, and changed to get home.

As much as I loved playing baseball, I hated that it cut into my afternoon. It meant less time to be able to see Bella without my Dad in the house, breathing down my neck to get my work done. When we were finished, I headed out to Emmett's Jeep with him since I'd let Bella take my car home. I knew my Dad wouldn't be happy with it, but I trusted her and she hadn't brought her truck over to the house yet. It didn't make sense to make her stay after school for two hours while I practiced.

"Thanks for the ride, Em." I called as I got out of the car. I dumped my baseball equipment in the garage like I always did and headed upstairs to see Bella. She wasn't in her room when I got there, and I panicked slightly not knowing where she was. I looked everywhere upstairs, but when she was nowhere in sight, I pulled my phone out of my pocket to call her. When she didn't answer, I started panicking even more.

"Mom?" I asked when she answered the store phone as I looked downstairs in the basement for her. My house was not that big, so I had a strong feeling she wasn't here.

"What's up?" She asked as I heard the dinging of the store behind her.

"Have your heard from Bella?" I asked, going back upstairs to grab my wallet and coat to go out and look for her.

"Wasn't she at practice wit you?"

"No, I let her drive my car home." I told her, but as I was pulling my jacket on, I noticed my bedroom window was open. "Never mind, Mom. I think I found her." I hung up the phone and stepped through my window onto the small ledge. I looked up and saw Bella sitting on the roof and wondered how she even found her way up here. I rarely came out here, and I'd never brought her with me.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, making her jump slightly as she turned to meet my gaze.

"I'm just...I needed some air." She shrugged as I climbed up to sit next to her.

"It's freezing out here." I laughed. I went inside and grabbed a blanket from my bed an came back outside, wrapping it around her arms. I sat down and wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to me.

"I'm used to it." She whispered. "I spent a lot of time outside when I was with Charlie." She explained. "The cold doesn't really bother me."

"You okay?" I asked softly.

"People never thought we were sisters." She sniffed, snuggling close to me.

"What?"

"Lauren and I." She explained. "She looked just like my Mom. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and I got everything from Dad. She was beautiful."

"You're beautiful." I smiled, gripping her hand.

"Ever since what happened with my Dad and moving in here with you," She trailed off. "I've just been thinking about my Mom and sister more than I have in the last four years."

"What are you thinking about?"

"How much I miss them." She cried. "And how much I looked up to Lauren and wanted to be just like her."

"What was she like?" I asked, hoping the question wouldn't set her off.

"Smart. Beautiful. Funny." She said, turning her head to look at me. "And I've been thinking a lot of how disappointed they would be in my Dad and me."

"No they..."

"Yes, they would." She cut me off. "Mom always wanted us to do well in school, and I've been blowing it off for four years. I've just been moving on to the next grade, it's almost a miracle I haven't been held back yet."

"You've had a rough four years." I shrugged. "No one..."

"And I'm not going to college, which it another thing my Mom always wanted us to strive for." She told me. "And I've blown it."

"You could go to community college and get your grades up." I suggested. "I mean, for the first two years you only really take Gen Ed. classes and then starting getting into your major junior year."

"I'm not going to college." She argued.

"Why not?"

"Because, Lauren never got to go and..." She cried, digging her head in my shoulder. "And I don't deserve to go if she didn't even have the chance."

"Oh, Bella." I cried, kissing the top of her head as she sobbed into my shoulder. "You absolutely deserve to go and live the life you were going to before all of this happened. She'd want you to go." I whispered.

"She would have loved you." I could feel her starting to shiver. "My Mom, she would have loved her. And Lauren would have liked you too."

"I am pretty likable." I laughed, and she elbowed me in the ribs. "I'm sure I would have loved them too."

"You would have." She nodded. "My Dad pulled me out of Seattle before I could even blink." She told me. "We didn't even pack up the house."

"Where did..."

"All the furniture in my house here was given to us or we bought when we still had money because Dad was still working." She explained. "Dad still owns the house in Seattle. He woke me up in the middle of the night and we left and we haven't looked back."

"If you want we could," I tried to offer, but she just cut me off.

"No, I can't go back there."

"Okay," I nodded, not wanting to argue with her. "Can I ask you something, though?"

"Sure,"

"How'd you even get up here?" I laughed, no one knew about this way to get onto the roof except Emmett and Jasper.

"I figured it out," She shrugged. "My old house was kinda like this. I used to sneak out onto the roof with Lauren all the time."

* * *

It was finally time for Jasper's birthday and I couldn't have been more excited that he was finally turning eighteen. He was the second youngest of our group of friends, the youngest being Alice, and Emmett and I never let him live it down. Once I was out of the shower, I got dressed for the party and went to see if Bella was ready to go. I smiled as I saw her standing in front of her bed with a few outfits on the bed.

I went up to her and grabbed her waist from behind, softly kissing her shoulder as she continued to look at her clothes. My Mom had been really great with Bella, and had bought her a lot of clothes from her store. Although Bella was a super casual girl, I could tell how much she appreciated my Mom's help and tried to wear the stuff she'd been given every once and a while.

"You'll look great in anything." I whispered, kissing the back of her neck.

"I've..." She stopped. "I've never been to a high school party." She admitted. "Not one with all the popular kids."

"What?" I laughed, letting go of her and sitting down in her desk chair.

"I mean, I go to parties on the reservation, but those aren't fancy or anything." She shrugged.

"This isn't fancy, Bella." I smiled. "You could wear your converse and jeans and people wouldn't care."

"I care." She whispered.

"Hey," I said softly, walking over to her and gripping her chin, forcing her to look at me. "Don't change who you are for my friends. Wear what you think is comfortable."

"But..."

"Let people get to know you for who you are, Bella." I whispered. "Plus, I doubt anyone who gives you shit is going to be there. Jasper refused to invite the assholes of our grade."

"Then are we going to be the only people there?" She laughed. She finally settled on something to wear, but it was much more casual than anything she'd laid out on the bed. Once she had her hair pulled back, she grabbed her jacket and I grabbed her hand to lead her down to the garage.

Since Emmett's parents were visiting his grandparents in Tennessee, he said we could have the party at his house, and we just had to be careful not to get the cops called. When I pulled into the driveway, the party seemed to already be in full swing and I could see Bella stiffen. I knew how weird this was for her, and I was about to tell her that we didn't have to do this, but she unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door before I cold say anything.

"You good?" I asked as she laced her fingers through mine.

"Uh-huh." She nodded. "Just, please don't leave me."

"I won't." I smiled as I pulled her up the walkway. I let myself in, knowing no one would take the time to open the door and laughed at how packed Emmett's house was. His family was one of the few families that were just middle class in Forks, so his house wasn't huge, but he managed to fit a lot of people inside.

"Edward!" Jasper called as he pushed passed people, a red cup in his hand.

"Happy birthday, man." I smiled, clapping him on the back. His birthday wasn't for another week, and we'd celebrate with just our friends later, but I sure was glad he wanted to throw a real party for once.

"Kegs in the kitchen." He told us, smiling at Bella, before pushing past us to find more people. Bella tightened her grip on my hand as I pulled her through the crowd towards the kitchen. I filled two cups up at the keg and handed her one. I didn't particularly like beer, but I knew Jasper didn't want people getting completely trashed and beer was all that he'd managed to get.

"Thirsty?" I laughed as Bella chugged her drink.

"Nervous." She admitted. I finished my drink, threw our cups away, and headed into the living room. With the way his parents had decorated, you would have thought Jasper and I were apart of the McCarty family. It was the same at my house, but it just seemed so much funnier here since Emmett had two older sisters.

I pulled Bella close to me as Hotline Bling began blaring through the speakers. The two of us spent the night dancing and laughing and genuinely having a good time. For once, she seemed to really be having a lot of fun with people she didn't particularly love.

"You wanna get out of here?" I whispered after we'd been dancing for a while. With the way she was moving against my body, I'd been hard for a while and I was finished being patient. She turned around, her eyes dark, and nodded her head. I grabbed her hand and pulled her out the door, giving Jasper and apologizing look as I left Emmett's house. I could feel the tension in the car as I drove us home, and I was about to pull over and take here in my car, but I wanted to do this right.

I sighed in relief when I pulled into the driveway and didn't see my fathers car. I was gambling when I brought us back to the house, but it was the first place I could think of. I ran around the front of my car and opened the door for her, immediately attacking her lips. I pushed her against the car door and she brought her hands to grip my hips.

"Come on," I growled, pulling back and grabbing her hand. I pulled her through the garage, and pushed her against the closed door between the garage and living room. I pushed her coat off of her shoulders and she tangled her hands through my hair. I pulled away from her and started kissing my way down her neck, eliciting a small moan from her. She brought her hands up and pushed my coat off and started undoing the buttons on the front of my shirt.

I brought my lips back to hers and began walking us through the house. We managed to get to my bedroom without breaking apart and she fell back onto my bed, and I crawled on top of her. She wrapped her legs around my hips an started moving, making me impossibly harder. I moved my hands to the hem of her shirt, and pulled away from her, asking for her permission to remove her shirt. She smiled softly and nodded at me, and I grabbed the hem and pulled her top over her head.

I licked my lips when I saw her lacy, black bra. She quirked an eyebrow at me, but I just ignored her and my lips found hers again. She then proceeded to push my shirt off my shoulders and moved her hands to trace my stomach. Last time had been so rushed, and I was determined to take my time with her this time.

I began moving down her jawline again, and made my way down her neck to the swells of her breasts. I reached around her and unclasped her bra. I gently pulled the straps down, revealing her beautiful breasts. I bit my lower lip in anticipation. Last time, it was so dark in the closet it was hard to see her. But tonight, with her lying in my bed, she'd never looked more perfect before.

"Edward?" She asked nervously. I quickly kissed her again, assuring her that my silence was because I wanted her so much and that she had nothing to be ashamed of. She grabbed one of my hands and brought it to grab one of her breasts, and I gently squeezed an fondled it, driving her crazy. Eventually, she moved her hands to the waistline of my jeans and undid the snap and zipper, pushing them down my legs. I took this time to remove my socks and shoes and she did the same.

"Shit," I whispered when I realized I didn't have any condoms. "Bella I...I don't have..."

"I'm on the pill." She smiled, giving me a nod.

When I fell on top of her again, she grabbed my face with both of her hands and I just smiled at her. I wanted her to know how much I loved her and how much I wanted her, so I jerked my hips making her squirm.

"Yes," She whispered. I continued to do that until my hands found the buckle of her belt. I quickly undid it, along with her button and zipped, and pulled her jeans down her legs.

Fuck. Her panties matched her bra.

"Is there a problem?" She asked, her voice low and seductive. I grinned at her as I bent down and took one of her hard nipples into my mouth. That seemed to shut her up, and she was squirming even quicker beneath me. She wrapped her legs around my hips again as I switched my mouth to her other nipple. I continued this for a while until I thought I couldn't handle her grinding against me anymore. She used her feet to push my boxers down my legs, leaving me completely exposed.

She reached out and gripped my achingly hard member in her tiny hands, and began pumping me.

"Shit, Bella." I closed my eyes tight. She did this for a few seconds more until I peeled her lavender panties down her legs and found her lips with mine again.

"I love you," She whispered as she removed her hand from my dick and cupped my cheek.

"I love you too," I nodded and I positioned myself at her wet entrance. She gave me one more nod, telling me it was okay, and I pushed into her. She screamed in pleasure as my eyes screwed shut. I was sure I could come right then and there, but I knew I needed to hold off.

"Edward," She moaned as she pushed my chest and rolled us over so that she was on top of me. I smiled as she braced herself on my chest and bounce up and down on my cock. I gripped her hips tightly with my hands and began helping her as she moved. I rolled us over again, and continued to push into her.

"Fuck," I groaned as I felt her walls starting to convulse around me.

She was coming.

"Yes!" She screamed as she let go. Her orgasm was enough to set me off, and I fell breathlessly on top of her. Both our bodies were covered in a thin layer of sweat, and I gently pushed her hair off her sticky forehead. I found her lips again and gave her a gentle kiss before pulling out of her. I found the tissues I kept on my nightstand and gave some to her to clean up, and pulled her against me.

"Edward?" She asked quietly. "Please don't go anywhere."

"Oh, baby." I cried, hugging her tighter. "I'm not going anywhere. You can trust me."

"Edward?" She asked again.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you," I replied, kissing the top of her head. I never could have imagined having this moment with Bella. From the second she yelled at me for making her a 'charity case' I thought I'd never even be here friend, let alone her boyfriend. I knew it had only been a short amount of time, but I never wanted to be apart from her. Call me crazy or weirdly emotional, but it was true.


	15. Everyone's Around

**Chapter Fifteen: Everyone's Around**

* * *

"So, you and Bella disappeared pretty early, Saturday night." Emmett laughed as we stood at my locked Monday morning. "What were you two up to?"

"Shut up," I groaned, not needing to be clapped on the back for my 'good work'. Jasper just stood there with a stupid grin on his face as I put my books I needed for the morning in my bag. After I had everything I needed, I headed down the hall towards where Bella's locker was and frowned when I saw Mike Newton talking to her.

"What's Mike doing?" Jasper asked as I quickened my pace. The last time I saw him with her he nearly assaulted her. I could tell she wasn't having anything to do with the conversation, and when I got to her, I pushed in between them.

"Go away." I seethed as Bella kept her back towards us and her head in her locker.

"It's a free country." He told me, reaching his hands up and pushing me. "I can talk to who ever I want."

"Just leave her the fuck alone!" I yelled, and suddenly the hallway had gotten very quiet. I didn't even realize how loud I'd yelled until then. I heard Bella slam her locker shut, and then she grabbed my hand and started pulling me away.

"What a whore." Mike whispered to one of his friends, and I lost it. I pulled away from Bella and went up to Mike, pushing him like he'd pushed me. He then copied me and pushed me back, but much harder. Before anyone could do anything, I was raising my arm up, my hand pressed into a fist, and punched him right in the nose. He clutched his gushing nose with his hands, and I pushed him back again.

"Edward, no!" Bella called, but there was no way he was getting away with calling her a whore. Not again. "Stop it!" I turned to look at her, and I realized I'd scared her. I had never acted like this, and before I could walk back to her and apologize, I felt a huge blow to the back of my head. I turned and Mike came right into contact with Mike's fist, and it was a full on war now.

I used all of my might and pushed him into a set of lockers close by, and punched him again in the jaw. I felt someone try and break us apart, but I just shoved whoever it was back and Mike came at me again and pushed me down to the ground. I was starting to not know what to do since I'd never done this before, but I just raised my fist again and punched him again, this time right in his neck.

He started to cough, and while he was down, I stood back up and turned to where Bella was standing. She looked absolutely surprised, actually everyone in the hall looked surprised.

"Edward!" She gasped as I was tackled to the ground again from behind. I turned around so that I was on my back and used my legs to push him back, and stood up, walking over to him and punched him in the gut.

"Come on, man!" Emmett yelled, grabbing my waist and pulling me back. "You're gonna get into..."

"What on earth is going on?" Principle Barnes's sharp voice cut through the crowd. "Cullen?"

"Shit," I whispered as someone helped Mike off the floor.

"Both of you. In my office. Now!" Principle Barnes barked. I looked at Emmett, who just shrugged and followed him slowly into his office. I sat down, but that just made everything hurt more, and I gripped my side. While we sat there, waiting for Mike to come in, the nurse came into his office and gave me an ice pack for my face and told me to come see her when she was finished. Mike hobbled in a few moments later and Principle Barnes shut his door.

"Principle..." I started, but he cut me off.

"You two are both seniors here, and should both know the rules of this school very well." He said sternly sitting down in his leather chair. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"He's been tormenting Bella ever since she got here freshman year, and I wasn't going to let him keep doing that." I told him. "He almost assaulted her at the beginning of the year, and when I got here, he was verbally assaulting her."

"I was not!" Mike argued.

"You called her a whore right to her face." I reminded him. "what do you call that?"

"Telling the truth." He smirked, and if we weren't in the principles office, I would have decked him right then and there.

"I expect this from you, Newton." Barnes sighed. "But this isn't like you at all, Mr. Cullen."

"I'm sorry, sir."

"I am too, because I have no choice but to suspend you until Wednesday."

"Suspend me?" I asked. I couldn't get suspend. This wasn't going to look good on my record and Dad would throw a fit. "Please, I've never done this before and I won't do it again."

"I know, but rules are rules." He told me. "I can't go giving you special treatment because you're a good student."

"Since I'm the victim, I don't get suspended right?" Mike asked and I just shot him a glare.

"Oh you're suspend as well, Mr. Newton." He laughed. "Until next Monday."

"He only got two days!"

"Mr. Cullen doesn't have one mark on his record, your record is full of marks." He smiled. "Don't you dare argue with me, Newton."

"I fucking hate you." He growled as he turned to face me. Mike wasn't the greatest student, but I knew the more trouble he got in, the more his football scholarship suffered.

"I'm calling both of your parents." Barnes told us. "You can go see the nurse while you wait." I nodded and walked out of his office and over to the nurses office. She helped clean some of the blood off my face, and gave me some ice for my eye that was already turning black and blue. When she was done with me, I sat in the lobby of all of the offices, waiting for my mother to arrive.

At least I hoped it was my mother.

I could hear her heels clicking on the floor all the way down the hall and I sighed in relief. I wasn't ready to deal with my Dad yet.

"Edward Anthony Cullen." She snapped as she opened the door. Crap, she was pissed. She never used my full name. "What do you have to say for yourself? Suspended?"

"He was attacking Bella, Mom." I whispered. "I couldn't let him get away with that again."

"So you decided attacking him was best?" She asked, sitting down next to me.

"It just happened." I shrugged. "I didn't mean for it to happen."

"Let's get you to the hospital so your father can stitch up those cuts." She whispered, pushing my hair back like she did whenever I got hurt as a kid. "You're lucky it's only a two day suspension." I nodded in agreement as we stood up. I clutched my stomach as we walked to the car, not realizing how much it really hurt until now.

"My car," I realized when we passed the student lot.

"We can come back and get it." She told me, gently helping me get into the car. The drive to the hospital was quiet since neither of us knew what to say. I'd never disappointed my Mom this much and she'd never had to do this before. It was an odd situation for us to be in.

When we pulled into the hospital lot, I prayed my Dad was with a trauma now so he didn't have to see me. I just didn't want to tell him what happened yet. But, he was standing right at the nurses station of the ER when we walked through the doors. When he saw us, his eyes went wide with surprise and he rushed over to us.

"What happened?" He asked when he approached us.

"Your son got into a fight at school today." Mom said, not waiting a single second of time. "He's suspended for two days."

"You got into a fight and got yourself suspended?" Dad barked.

"Dad, please." I begged, not wanting him to make a scene in the middle of the hospital. "Can we talk about this later?"

"Yeah, we'll talk about it later today, and then we'll talk about it tomorrow and we'll talk about it on Wednesday." He said, leading me to a bed. He assessed the damage of my face, and gave me a basic neuro exam before assessing the damage done to my abdomen.

"So?" Mom asked.

"He's got a broken nose, and he might have a broken rib." Dad explained. "We're gonna get you an x-ray."

"Okay," I nodded. "Dad?"

"What?" He asked, looking down at the iPad they used for charts.

"I'm really sorry." I whispered. "He was attacking Bella and..."

"I don't care why you did it, Edward." He told me. "I know you had good intentions, and we taught you to fight for what you believed in..."

"But not physically fight." Mom cut in.

"We'll talk about this at home." He told me before walking away. He got a resident to take me up to x-ray and put me in a patient room. Dad came back upstairs with the films and told me I did have a broken rib which meant no baseball for at least six weeks, which also meant I'd miss our first game.

Once he'd stitched up my face, he discharged me and Mom took me home. She helped me upstairs to my room, and once I was in my bed, I fell asleep and just tried forgetting everything. But, even with the broken rib and nose as well as the suspension, I couldn't be that upset. He was hurting Bella and it was time for people to know that it wasn't okay and something needed done.

I fell asleep after my Mom had given me the prescribed pain medications, and woke up to someone slamming a door downstairs. When I looked at the clock, it was already three o'clock and I knew Bella was home. She was fuming, and I couldn't tell if being hurt was going to work for my advantage.

"What the fuck?" She screamed, storming into my room and slamming the door shut. A few second later, my door opened again and Emmett walked inside.

"Bella..."

"I can take care of myself." She reminded me. "I don't need your protection!"

"That's what a boyfriend does, Bella." I spoke softly. "A boyfriend is there to protect his girlfriend and be her knight in shining armor. I hate that look on your face when people start talking."

"Edward..."

"I would have done the same for Rosalie." Emmett stepped in. "If people had been talking about her like that, I would have beaten them to a pulp. And I know Jazz would do the same for Alice."

"But you got yourself suspend." Man news traveled quick.

"I know." I nodded. "And, I wish I didn't get suspend or a broken rib, but it happened and I'm already over it."

"He broke one of your ribs?" She asked, sitting down on my bed and grabbing one of my hands. I nodded as a tear streamed down her cheek. I was the one with a broken rib and she was the one crying. "No one's...ever stood up for me like that."

"Don't you get it?" I asked, bringing my hand up to her cheek. "I'd help you drag the dead body across the floor and figure out where to bury it."

When my Dad finally got home from work, I got an earful and I actually deserved it. He was right, I should have figured out a better way to deal with Newton, but I just couldn't help it. He grounded me until further notice and throated that if my grades slipped anytime soon, he'd take my keys away from me. But, he wasn't blaming Bella for what happened so that was a plus.

Bella practically begged my Mom to stay home from school on Tuesday, but she wasn't budging. Rules were rules she told me after Bella had left for school, using my car, and if she bent them now she'd always be expected to bend them. That's what she told me when I was a kid and wanted to stay up past my bedtime. I spent Tuesday, when I wan't hopped up on pain meds, catching up on reading that I let fall behind. My grades were still good, but I hadn't been putting in a ton of extra work since Bella had moved in.

By the time Wednesday morning rolled around, I was excited to go back to school. Being on breaks from school were great since my friends were home too, but suspension was lonely. It also didn't help that Mom had stayed home with me on Tuesday and was actually driving me crazy. Dad advised me not to go back to school until my rib had healed more, but I needed to be in school. I didn't want Bella to be alone.

Emmett came and picked Bella and I up since I was in no shape to drive, and I could use the help getting in and out of the car. When he pulled up, I was glad to see he had his Mom's car, which was smaller and easier to get into. He came up to the house, and helped me out to the car with Bella behind us.

"Dude, are you sure you can do this?" He asked as I clenched my eyes closed after I'd buckled my seatbelt. "You've got a broken rib, you can stay home."

"No, I need to go to school." I argued.

"Look," He whispered after Bella had gone back into the house to grab something she'd forgotten. "I've got Bella. No one's gonna get to her while you're gone."

"It's...my job." I argued. "I can do this."

"Do what?" Bella asked as she got into the backseat.

"Go to school." Emmett sighed, buckling his own seatbelt and turning the key in the ignition. When we got to school, Emmett helped me out of the car, and he called Jasper over to help me around. It was embarrassing, needing this much help, but I was determined to get through this day. When we reached my locker, Bella helped me open it while I leaned against another locker, and she put the books I needed into my bag.

"Thanks," I smiled as she gently shut my locker and set my bag on the ground.

"I hate you," She whispered, shaking her head. I knew she was still kind o pissed at me for getting into a fight, but it was more because I'd gotten hurt and suspend, not because she didn't want me protecting her anymore. "Seriously, don't do it again."

"I won't." I assured her as the bell for homeroom rang. Alice came over and grabbed my bag for me and I hobbled my way down the hall to our homeroom. It was only a few minutes into the day and I was already questioning why I wanted to leave my warm bed for school.

By the time fourth period hit, I was in serious agony. Dad told me I'd be uncomfortable, but it would be good for me to walk around. But, I was starting to realize he meant around the house to go to the bathroom, not around school all day. Bella slowly walked with me down the hall to drama, but halfway there, I stopped and leaned up against the wall.

"Bells?" I asked, breathing heavily. "I think you need to call my Dad."

"What?" She asked, rushing over to me and digging her phone out of her pocket. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Please," I begged as I put my head back and rested it on the wall. By the time Bella had hung up, I couldn't move since the pain was so bad and she told me she'd be back, and ran down the hall. A minute later, she returned with Mr. Auburn who was able to help me down to the nurses office where I was able to lie down.

"My son," I heard my Dad's voice say from the other side of the door. A few seconds later, the door swung open and he had that famous 'I told you so' look on his face. He shook his head, walking over to me and sitting in the plastic chair next to the bed. "I told you to stay home."

"Dad, it hurts to breathe." I complained. His eyebrows pinched in confusion and then he stood up, looking around the room for something. He disappeared into the nurses small office and came back with a stethoscope around his neck. He helped me sit up so he could take a listen to my lungs.

"You have some decreased breath sounds on the left," He told me, setting the stethoscope on the table beside him. He helped me stand up and walked me carefully to his car. We made our way to the hospital, and by the time we got there, I felt like my lungs were on fibre.

"Dad..." I stopped. "I...can't..." I trailed off again. "Breathe..." I gasped.

"I'm gonna go get a wheelchair." He told me, and ran inside the doors. I sat in the front seat of his car, just wanting Bella to be there with me. I continued to gasp until Dad came back with a nurse and a wheelchair. He helped get me into the chair and then hurriedly pushed me inside.

"You're going to be okay." He assured me as he helped me onto the bed. "He needs to get to CT. Now!" He barked at his staff, and for the first time in my life, I saw fear in my Dad's eyes.


	16. I Don't Wanna Let This Go

**Chapter Sixteen: I Don't Wanna Let This Go**

* * *

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

As I slowly gained consciousness, that's all I could hear in the black room. When I was finally able to pry my eyes open, I looked around and saw a little bit of light coming in from the window, but I was still confused as to where I was exactly. The last thing I remembered was my Dad as they rolled me down the hall to CT, and then everything was gone. I turned my stiff neck to look towards where I heard noises coming from and saw Mom sitting in a chair next to my bed.

"Mom?" I asked, my voice soft and raspy. "Mom," I said again, trying to be louder but with no luck. "Mother." I must have spoken loud enough because she twitched and then moved in her chair.

"Baby," She whispered, standing up and walking closer to my bed. She grabbed my hand and even through the dark, I could see tears streaming down her cheek. "I'm so glad you're awake."

"What...what happened?" I asked as she carefully sat down on the bed. "Where's Bella?"

"Bella's at home." She explained. "With Dad."

"Good, she's...she's okay." I nodded, closing my eyes. "What's going on?"

"Your broken rib managed to puncture your lung." She told me, pushing my hair out of my face. "It collapsed sometime during the school day and they had to put in a chest tube. Dad said it was probably because of all the moving."

"I pushed it too far, didn't I?" I asked and she just laughed, nodding her head yes. "I'm sorry."

"Just next time, listen to your father when he tells you to not go to school." She sighed. "I know it's usually the opposite with him, but I think he might know a thing or two about medical stuff."

"Yeah, you're probably right." I yawned. "Mom, can I have some water?"

"Sure," She nodded, getting up and going to the bathroom connected to my room and filling up the small, pink cup. I grabbed it from her hands and gulped all the water down in one sip. I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I'd had some water. "Edward?"

"Yeah, Mom?" I asked as I set the cup on the table next to my bed.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again." She said sternly, and I knew she meant it.

"I won't. I promise." I smiled as she reached down and gripped my arm. She sat down in the chair next to my bed again and I slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next time I woke up, I heard people laughing. I could hear Bella laughing and that was like music to my ears. I didn't want to open my eyes, but I really had to pee so I was forced to. When I finally managed to open my eyes, I saw Bella sitting in the chair next to me with Emmett and Jasper standing up against the wall. I really loved that Jasper was starting to like Bella more, because I never wanted to choose between them.

"What's...so funny?" I asked and they all whipped their heads in my direction.

"Your'e up," Bella cried, moving to sit on the side of my bed. "How do you feel?"

"I gotta pee." I told them. Bella pressed the nurses button and he came in to help me sit up and help me get to the bathroom. Once I was done, he helped me get back into my bed and Bella sat back down next to me.

"Dude, your'e falling apart." Jasper was kind enough to point out. "You're going to kill yourself before graduation if you keep this up."

"Don't even joke about that!" Bella barked. I knew it was a difficult topic of discussion for her and I just grabbed her hand.

"Hey, I'm okay." I assured her as she focused her attention back on me.

"Yeah," She nodded as I squeezed her hands. "I got your homework for the next week."

"A whole week?"

"It could be more, but your Dad just told me to plan for a week." She shrugged.

"I'm sorry I'm abandoning you in drama."

"That's okay." she smiled. "It'll give me a chance to work with someone who knows that they're doing."

"I'm offended!" I gasped. "I got us that grade on our midterm."

"Sure you did, lover boy." Emmett smirked from across the room and I glared at him. I never told Bella that I'd told them what happened after we did the scene.

"Good, you're awake." Dad sang in a much too happy tone when he walked into the room.

"Why are you in such a good mood?"

"My son didn't die because of his stupidity." Of course, even when he was happy for me, he managed to be negative. "No, but you're lucky you didn't do more damage."

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Just...next time try listening to me." He smiled. "I want you to get good grades, but you're not going to do that if you die."

"Right," I rolled my eyes, but not without smiling. This was one of the first times in my life that Dad was managing to joke around with me. I loved the man, but his coldness was starting to ware on me. I loved seeing this rare side of him.

"When can I go home?"

"Soon," He promised. "If you weren't my son, you'd be here for a few days."

"Thanks," I mumbled as he left the room. I looked over at Bella and then to my friends. They seemed to get my hint and told us they were going to grab a cup of coffee from across the street and left us alone. I grabbed her hand in mine and gently squeezed it, reminding her that I was here and I was okay.

"My Mom and sister died because of a fluke accident." She spoke quietly. "Please, stop getting yourself in the middle of things."

"Bella,"

"I love you and I love that you care about me so much, but I don't need you getting into fights for me." She whispered. "I...we can't be together if you're constantly getting into trouble."

"Bella, I won't fight anyone anymore."

"And...just let them talk. They're going to talk and when you fight with them, it only gives them what they want." She explained. "The second they see that you're all wound up, they've won and they feel victorious."

"Okay," I agreed. I just wanted her to feel okay and if me leaving the fuckers alone meant she was okay, then I'd do it.

Bella and I spent the rest of the day in the hospital doing homework. I was really glad she'd brought me my homework because it kept me busy. I was someone who always needed to be doing something, so staying at home and watching TV wasn't going to do it for me. I really loved that her schoolwork was becoming more important to her. I wanted the best for her, and I knew deep down she wanted to graduate high school and maybe even go to college. I just hoped she'd come to realize that for herself one day.

"Who's that?" I asked after her phone had buzzed.

"It's..." She trailed off and I didn't miss her quick smile. "Alice."

"Yeah?" I asked. "What'd she say?" Bella reached over and handed me her phone.

Alice's Cell: You wanna go and get something to eat tonight? We can bring some food back for Edward.

"You gonna go?"

"I don't wanna leave you."

"Bells, I'm probably gonna pass out soon." They'd just given me a heavy dosage of pain meds. "Go, get dinner and have fun."

"No,"

"If you don't want to go because you don't want to go, I won't fight you." I sighed. "But if you don't want to go because your'e scared to be alone with Alice, don't be."

"She..."

"She did what she did because of Rosalie." I reminded her. "Alice, like Emmett, let her walk all over her. Alice is done with Rose and she's a completely different person now that she's out of her life."

"Okay," She nodded.

"Jasper is a good judge of character." I said softly. "He wouldn't be with Alice if she wasn't a great person."

"What are you in the mood for?"

"Indian." I laughed.

"We'll bring you back some food." She smiled and I sighed in victory. My friends were just as important to me as Bella was. I wanted her to be apart of that life because I really didn't want to pick and choose. Plus, I thought it would be good for Bella to have a couple of friends that were girls since Jake, Emmett and I were all guys. I loved listening to her, but there were definitely things that were better conversations to have with girls.

Just after Bella headed out, the nurse came in and checked on me one last time. I knew that they were being extra attentive because of my Dad, but it was nice being so taken care of. Once the nurse left, I felt my eyes growing heavier and then I was gone.

* * *

"Babe, I can feed myself!" I laughed as Bella tried shoving wedding soup in my mouth. "Bella!"

"Come on, you took care of me." I took the bite. "It's my turn to take care of you."

"You've done enough."

"I'm not just talking about when I got out of the hospital the last time," She spoke softly, looking down at the ground. "You took care of me when you bought me lunch and when you got your dad to sew up my head."

"I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

"Exactly, so let me feed you your soup."

"Fine," I rolled my eyes, accepted another bite. It had been a long week and I was thankful I was able to go to school in the morning. Dad wanted me to stay home for another week, to be safe, but after I promised not to do anything crazy he agreed to let me go. I wasn't even allowed to carry my own backpack, but if that got me out of the house I was okay with that.

"Edward?" Bella asked an hour later when she was curled up in my arms. My door was wide open and we were fully clothed, but these were the moments I lived for with her. She was my best friend and the first girl I loved. Anytime I got to spend with her alone was special.

Fuck, I was so whipped.

"Yeah?"

"Do you believe in heaven?"

"Huh?" I asked, taken aback. We'd never talked about something like this. Usually, she didn't talk about her mom and sister unless I asked. She was always willing to answer my questions, but she was still pretty quiet about them.

"Do you believe in heaven?"

"Do you?"

"I...I want to."

"I'm not sure if I believe in Jesus and everything, but yeah." I nodded. "I think heaven is real."

"Why?"

"Because, the thought of death being it...scares me." I answered. "Death can't be it. And, I have to believe that once we're gone, we have the chance to see our loved ones again."

"Does death scare you?"

"What's with all the questions?" I kissed the top of her head as she propped herself up on my chest.

"I just want to know."

"Bella," I pushed.

"You're the only one who really knows about what happened in Seattle." She whispered. "Other than Jake, you're it. You're the only one I can talk about."

"Yes, death scares me a little bit."

"Why?"

"Because...I want to be with you forever and one day, death is going to cut our forever short." I shrugged. "Plus, I don't think I can play baseball once I'm dead."

"I hate you." She rolled her eyes, lying back down on my chest.

The next morning, my parents and Bella were way too over protective. I'd had over a week to heal and my injuries weren't even that bad. I really was feeling fine and I'd be able to go eight hours away from home. Plus, the thought of walking around freely without mom hovering sounded like such a blessing. Bella packed my bag for me and carried it out to Jasper's car when he pulled into the driveway. She carefully walked me outside and helped me in the car.

Jasper raised his eyebrows when she shut the door. I shook my head, telling him to ignore it and he just chuckled. Bella warned him to go slow and easy on the way to school, but those words weren't in Jasper's vocabulary. He drove like his normal self and I thought Bella was going to have a heart attack from the backseat.

"I'm good," I told her, reaching my hand back.

"He still shouldn't drive like that."

"I can hear you!" Jasper sang as we pulled into the schools parking lot. Jasper grabbed my bag from me and walked with me when Alice came over to Bella and stole her away from me. I watched as she stood at Bella's locker with her, laughing like they'd been friends forever. I knew once they got to know her, they'd love her. She was hard not to like and I just wished everyone knew her like I did.

"Alice loves her." Jasper smiled as he watched Alice and Bella together. "She told me she really regrets not making an effort with her when she first moved here."

"Me too." I sighed, shutting my locker. "Here comes the wicked witch." I bumped his shoulder when I saw Rosalie walking in the front door with Tanya behind her. I watched as the strolled down the hall and almost lost it when they stopped at Bella. Jasper reached his hand out and reminded me to let her fight her own battles.

I couldn't just stand there though, so I started towards them. I was going to keep my mouth shut, but I needed Rosalie to know she couldn't be messing with Bella anymore. It really was getting out of hands. I knew Rosalie loved Tanya like a sister, but Tanya was a big girl. She didn't need Rosalie fighting her battles for her.

And then I understood where Bella was coming from.

"Sex go wrong for you two?" Rosalie screeched when I got to Bella. She reached down and grabbed my hand and squeezed it. She was the one being bullied and she was the one comforting me.

"The sex is great, actually." Bella smirked. "He's amazing in bed." She was looking right at Tanya. "Makes me come every time."

"What's wrong, Rose?" I asked. Her face was paling over and her hand was clutched in a fist. "You miss having sex with Emmett?"

"Fuck off, Edward!"

"I heard you weren't very good." I shrugged and I heard Jasper snicker from behind me. "He said you took forever to come most of the time and it was hard for him to finish."

"He did not." She rolled her eyes.

"Edward doesn't lie, Rose." Alice said from behind me and I was kind of surprised. Her and Rosalie had been friends forever and she was just so cold towards her. "And, Jasper told me that's what Emmett said."

"You're fucking made for each other!" Rosalie screeched before turning away. Tanya stayed though and for a second, I felt bad for her. I'd never wanted things to end between us the way they did and Bella really punched her in the gut. I mean, don't get me wrong, she deserved it for treating Bella the way she did, but still.

It would have sucked for me to hear the same thing.

"When did you become so mean, Alice?" Tanya whispered before turning and walking away. I turned around and Jasper had his arms wrapped around Alice. I knew that was never her intention, but Rosalie really was good at pushing people's buttons. And, Rose knew Alice liked Bella now so she was going to push her in front of Alice.

"Don't listen to them, Alice." I told her. "You're better than they are anyway."

"I played right into her game." She cried, digging her head into Jasper's chest.

"Which is what she wanted." Jasper reminded her as the bell rang. "Come on, just forget about her."

"We've been friends for a long time, Jazz." She whispered as she grabbed my book bag. "I can't just forget that our friendship is practically over."

The rest of the day was actually kind of miserable. Alice was still upset about what happened that morning, and Jasper spent the entire day comforting her. And, because Alice felt bad, Bella felt bad. She kept telling me if they weren't friends, it wouldn't have happened. I tried telling her Rosalie would have found some other way to be mean, but she wasn't buying it. At lunch, Bella asked to be lest alone and I respected her wishes. Jasper was off with Alice somewhere, leaving just Emmett and I.

"I'm really sorry I told her." I shrugged as I picked at my food. "I just..."

"It's fine." Emmett rolled his eyes. I knew that as much as he didn't want to be mad, he was fucking pissed. Emmett told me about sex with Rosalie in confidence and I'd just blurted it out to half the school. I totally understood why he was angry.

"High school sucks."

"I get that you want to protect Bella," He pushed his tray away. "But, Rosalie is a person too. And so is Alice and so is Jasper and so am I."

"I know that, Emmett."

"No, you don't." He shook his head. "Because if you did, you'd stop this whole thing."

"Defending my girlfriend?"

"Taking their bait!" He shouted. "You never used to buy into it and all of a sudden, it's all you do."

"Emmett,"

"You could have died because you couldn't just let Mike run his big mouth. You know the truth, and so does Bella. That should be all that matters."

"Well, if they were talking about Rosalie,"

"They do talk about Rosalie." He rolled his eyes. "Mike and Tyler were always talking about her in the locker room before we started dating. I wanted to kill them, but I didn't. Because I knew what was right and they could go fuck themselves."

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"I know, and I get why you're so protective." He whispered. "Just...just try and do a better job at ironing it."

For the first time in a long time, I realized just how difficult my relationship was. I loved Bella, but being with her wasn't going to be easy. I had this constant urge to protect her and she had this drive to flee. If either of us over did it, we'd be done.

And I wasn't willing or ready to lose her.

* * *

 **AN** _: Hey, guys! I am so so so so so sorry for the very late update. I was woking at a camp all summer and then this semester at school has been super rough. Also, I just didn't know where I wanted this story to go, but I've finally mapped out a general idea. I hope to keep this updated as frequently as I can and please be patient with me_

 **-SpringHiller09**


	17. Some Things to Myself

**Chapter Seventeen: Some Things to Myself**

* * *

Bella and I were actually able to find a good balance with our personalities. I backed off a bit and let her deal with the way people were talking. But, she also let me be protective over her as long as I wasn't being an idiot and fighting people anymore. With the new balance, we were able to get along better with each other and our friends. I was really thankful things were getting easier with everything going on.

Calling Rose out on her sex life seemed to have shut her up. I knew she was thoroughly embarrassed about what I'd said and she now knew Emmett talked to us. He'd told us some pretty great stories, but if that stuff got out she'd be ruined as this high school princess. She continued to scowl and 'accidentally' bump into Bella, but for the most part, she steered clear of all of us. And, because Rosalie was backing off, Tanya also stayed away from us. Alice still saw her sometimes because she didn't want to lose both of her best girl friends, but she mostly stayed with us and Bella.

Things were also getting better at home. Since Bella and I hadn't screwed up yet, he was really starting to trust that I could live with my girlfriend. I'd sent in my Harvard application and we were anxiously awaiting my letter whether it was an acceptance or a rejection. Dad assured me that I was a almost guaranteed an acceptance since I was a Cullen, but I wasn't going to get my hopes up. I'd worked my ass off and that was all I could do really. I'd sent in applications to a few other ivy leagues, but for the first time, I actually wanted to go to Harvard. I wasn't sure why I had the sudden change of hearts, but as I filled out other applications, I started wishing that I wasn't going to need them as my back ups.

I still wished I had a choice of what I wanted to do, but Harvard was the school I wanted to go to.

But, as I sent in applications, Bella just sat with me and did her homework. I'd asked her about college and she said that she'd get around to it eventually. Her grades had improved drastically since moving in, but I still thought it would be best for her to go to community college to get her grades up. Ever time I brought that up, though, she'd just shrug it off and change the topic. I knew you didn't necessarily have to go to college to be successful, but I didn't know what other plans Bella might have.

She was still caught up on the fact that her sister never went to college and that was definitely holding her back.

I didn't want to push her, though. Things had been so good with us in a relationship as well as her relationship with my parents. At first, she wouldn't dare go downstairs alone but now, she was frequently with my Mom. I knew how much she missed having a motherly figure in her life and I loved that my Mom was willing to step up for her. No one would ever replace Renee, but I was really glad that she was still able to have someone in her life to help her and hug her and just love her like a Mom should.

Things were also good between her and my Dad. He'd finally admitted that he didn't like her or her Dad because he had an idea of what was going on at home. He said that he'd seen Charlie too many times stumbling down the street and Bella had come in a few times before we started talking, needing stitches or a cast. He really did think that by being friends with Bella, I was going to get dragged into something and get hurt. He wasn't even worried she'd bring me down future wise, he was genuinely worried for my safety. But, now that she was here and he'd gotten to know her, he loved her more than he loved me. Knowing that I was safe because she was away from Charlie and Charlie wash't around gave him peace of mind.

Things were as close to perfect as they could get.

"Why Harvard?" Bella asked me one night as we drove home from Emmett's house the Friday before Valentines Day.

"Because..." I trailed off, trying to think of a reason why I wanted to go to Harvard. I knew the whole medical school and Cullen legacy was why I had to go there. But, why did I want to? "I'm a Cullen."

"And I'm a Swan."

"Because Cullen men go to Harvard and become doctors."

"But, do you actually want to go there?"

"I do." I nodded honestly.

"Then why do you want to?"

"Because it's an amazing school. The classes are the best in the nation, the food is pretty good, the dorms are sweet." I told her. "And it's a really beautiful campus."

"It's far." She looked out the window.

"It is."

"How far?"

"A six and a half hour flight plus three hours from Seattle." I told her. "And forty-seven hours in the car."

"That's far." She repeated.

"Well, you're coming with me, right?"

"What?"

"To Boston."

"What am I gonna do in Boston, Edward?"

"Community college." I shrugged.

"I don't want to do that."

"Then, we'll figure it out."

"Edward?"

"Hmm?"

"Pull over." She demanded as we passed by Forks Park.

"What?"

"Pull your fucking car over."

"Okay?" I flipped my turn signal on and pulled in the parking lot. Bella was unbuckling her seatbelt and throwing herself at me just after I'd put the car in park. "Whoa, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She crawled into my lap as I pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"This isn't..."

"Edward!" She smiled, reaching down and pulling on the lever that made my seat go back. "We might only have a few more months left together...just fucking do. Don't think."

"Bella, we're going to get..."

"Just do." She smiled as she pressed her lips on mine.

"Wait,"

"Edward..."

"It'll be easier in the back seat." I smirked and she kissed me again. She got off of me and climbed in the back seat. I put the seat back up and crawled back with her. I laid her down on the seat as she shed my jacket.

"Fuck, this is hot." I mumbled as I tore her jacket off her and she pulled my t-shirt up over my head. I leaned down and kissed her neck, causing her to moan loudly. I began grinding my hips against her and I was instantly hard. "Fuck," I moaned again as I reached for the hem of her blouse. She sat up so I could pull it off her and licked my lips when I saw her light blue, cotton bra.

"I love the way you look at me." She raised her eyebrow at me. I smiled as I kissed my way down to the top of her breast. She was really starting to squirm beneath me, and I really needed to get out of my jeans. Thankfully, she read my mind and ran her fingers down my chest and stopped at my jeans.

"Fuck, take them off." I growled as she slowly popped the button open. Once she unzipped them, I quickly sat up, took them off, and threw them on the floor of the car.

"Are you going to leave me only a quarter naked while you only have your boxers on?"

"You're so sexy." I moaned as she cupped me through my boxers. I unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans and tugged them off her beautiful, long legs. Her panties matched her bra and I felt my brain stop working for a second.

"We're gonna get caught if you don't hurry up." She warned, pushing my boxers down.

"Fuck, I love you." I moaned, peeling her panties down her legs and pushing in. She gasped and clawed at my back. I closed my eyes for a second to gain composure before looking at her again. Her eyes were shut and there was a small drop of sweat streaming down her forehead. She was so gorgeous like this and I would never, ever get tired of her.

"Fuck!" She moaned as I pushed her bra to the side and clamped my mouth down around her nipple. "Edward! Yes!" I continued to thrust inside her, and I could tell that she was getting close.

"Shit," I growled as she wrapped her legs around my hips. "Fuck, Bella..."

"I'm almost there," She panted. "Ye..." She stopped when we both heard a knock on the window. I thought I was just being paranoid, so I kept going after a second, but there was another knock. This time, a lot louder so I turned around behind me.

"No," I shouted as I pulled out of her, and covered myself with my jacket. I picked Bella's coat up and covered her with it. I moved to wipe the steam off the window and I felt sick. There was a cop standing outside of my car with a flashlight in his hand. "Shit,"

"Edward?" Bella's worried voice asked from behind me. I pulled my boxers up and reached up front to turn the car on so I could roll the window down.

"Yes, officer?" I asked, trying to seem as cool as I could.

"Mr. Cullen," He smirked. Fuck. Of course he knew my Dad. "Get dressed, I'm calling your father."

"Please, no." I begged.

"Get dressed." He said sternly. I nodded and rolled the window up so we could get dressed. We quickly pulled our clothes back on and got out of the car to wait with the police officer. It was so obvious what we'd been doing because of the windows being fogged up, and this so wasn't the way I wanted my parents to find out we were having sex.

We were so never going to be allowed to be alone ever again.

After five minutes, I saw the headlights of an expensive car driving towards us. I heard the cop chuckling and I really hoped he had kids who were having sex behind his back. I really wanted to disappear in that moment, and I closed my eyes in hopes that it was all just a bad dream. Dad parked and the two of them got out of the car. Dad was fuming and Mom just looked really disappointed and embarrassed.

"Officer?" Dad asked as he stepped towards us. "What seems to be the problem."

"Did you know that having sex in a public place is consisted a misdemeanor?" He asked. "And that usually gets you one year in prison?"

"Oh, Edward." Mom cried.

"Now, because this is both of their first offenses and I don't ever think they'll be this stupid again, I'm going to let them go with a warning."

"Thank you, officer." I whispered.

"You, be quiet until we get home." Dad growled.

"Don't ever let it happen again." The cop warned and walked away.

"You two are in serious trouble." Dad seethed, grabbing my hand.

"Dad, my car..."

"Give your keys to your mother. She'll drive her and Bella home." Dad pulled me over to his car and practically pushed me inside. Before I even had time to buckle my seatbelt, he was speeding out of the parking lot. He didn't speak to me the entire way home and I really thought I saw steam coming out of his ears. When we got home, he pulled me into the living room and sat me down on the couch. He sat down in the chair adjacent to the couch and we waited for Bella and my Mom to get home.

Once Bella got home, though, nothing was safe anymore. Dad made sure she sat on the love seat, away from me. Mom sat next to me and Dad stood up, pacing the room. He paced back and forth for a long time and I thought he was going to put a hole in the floor.

"Dad,"

"How fucking irresponsible can you possibly be?" He finally yelled.

"Dad,"

"Having sex...in your car...in the Fork's Park parking lot?" He yelled. "We knew you two were having sex, but dammit! I though you were smarter than that!"

"You knew we were having sex?" Bella squeaked.

"We're not stupid." Dad rolled his eyes. "We leave you two alone and you're in a pretty serious relationship. We just thought you were being smart about it!"

"We are being smart!"

"Having sex in your car is smart?" Mom spoke up. "I cannot believe you. You could have been put in jail! You're lucky that officer let you two go!"

"We know." I nodded, looking at the floor.

"We should kick Bella out for this."

"Dad, no..."

"I said we should." He shook his head. "We're not going to."

"Of course we're not." Mom agreed. "But you two are in so much trouble."

"What's our punishment?"

"Well, first off, Bella is going to be moving into the downstairs guest room."

"What?"

"Edward," Mom sighed.

"And you two aren't going to be leaving this house for at least a month." Dad told us. "Maybe more. You can drive your car to school and back, but once you're home, you give the keys to us." He continued. The list seemed unending. "And, when you two are spending time together, you will be downstairs on this couch."

"Dad," I wined.

"We're going to move Bella downstairs tonight." He wasn't going to be bargained with at all. "You're going to help and then you two are going to stay in your rooms for the rest of the night. Maybe your entire lives."

"Yes, sir." We said in unison.

"And there is also no way you two are seeing any of your friends at all for at least a month."

"Yes, sir." Bella cried. I so wanted to go and comfort her, but I figured if I went near her, Dad would kill me. Actually kill me.

After Dad was done screaming, which lasted for another thirty minutes, we headed upstairs to move Bella. I helped her carry her clothes downstairs while Dad and Mom took the other things. Once we were done, I quickly kissed her goodnight and ran upstairs. Thankfully, my Dad didn't take my phone and once my door was shut, I dialed Emmett's number.

"Hey, dude." He laughed as he answered the phone.

"I had sex with Bella in the back of my car tonight and we got caught by the cops."

"Whoa."

"And Dad moved Bella into the basement and we have to stay in the living room and we can't go anywhere for at least a month."

"Whoa."

"We're lucky he didn't kick Bella out."

"Where the fuck were you guys that you got caught?"

"The parks lot..."

"Forks Park parking lot?" He laughed.

"Where would you do it in the car then, genius?"

"LaPush." He answered immediately. "Right in the woods before that giant cliff."

"You sound like you're familiar with this spot."

"Oh, we're very familiar with that spot."

"Emmett!" I groaned, laying down on my bed. "Help."

"What do you want me to do?" He laughed. "Tie your Dad down so you and Bella can bang?"

"No,"

"I'm sorry, but you're on your own for this." He sighed. "This sucks."

"You're telling me." Emmett and I talked for a little bit longer before he had to hang up. I got myself ready for bed and already missed having Bella up here with me. We usually brushed our teeth together and made out before going to bed. I had just gotten so used to having her here over this last month that it was weird not having her close. When I got back to my bedroom, I smiled when I saw the text from Bella.

 _Bella's Cell: Sorry I got us in this mess._

 _Me: It's not your fault. I should have stopped it._

 _..._

 _Bella's Cell: I should have never put you in that position._

 _Me: Come on, it was fucking hot until we got caught. Plus, we're in high school. We're supposed to make bad decisions._

 _..._

 _Bella's Cell: Not that bad._

 _Me: We're going to be fine._

 _..._

 _Bella's Cell: They'll never trust us again._

 _Me: We'll cross that bridge when we come to it._

 _..._

 _Bella's Cell: I love you._

 _Me: I love you more. Goodnight, beautiful._

 _..._

 _Bella's Cell: Goodnight._

* * *

The next month was absolute torture. With Bella living downstairs, we never saw each other at night or in the morning. And, when we were able to see each other, we had to stay in the living room even if my parents were home. They promised they'd figure out if we'd broken any rules and I was not willing to risk it. So, we had to resort to cuddling on the couch while we did our homework. It also really sucked not being able to see our friends or go anywhere since we had to give up our keys at the end of the day.

I was just thankful my parents weren't around during the school day.

However, even though everything about this really sucked, it gave me time to focus on my school work. With AP tests starting in May, Dad was already starting to crack the whip. He continued to tell me that I needed to be focused and I couldn't be waiting until the last minute to study for my exams. I had four exams that I needed to do well on, and with Bella in the house, it had become harder to study. So, it did end up working out partially for our benefit.

Bella and I also hadn't continued to conversation we were having in the car the night we got caught. I wanted her to come to Boston with me. I knew it was going to be difficult being away from my friends, but being away from Bella seemed pretty unbearable. I didn't want her to feel like she was following me, but there were so many options for her. She could go to community college or drama school or get a job in the city. I mean, I only wanted her to come if she wanted to be there, but I really hoped that's what she wanted.

"Are we going to finish our conversation?" I asked as we sat at the kitchen table while we were doing our home. We only had a few more days of our punishment before I got my car back...hopefully.

"What conversation?" She didn't even bother looking up.

"About you coming to Boston."

"I don't know, Edward." She shrugged. "Haen't thought about it."

"You haven't thought about it?"

"Have you?"

"All the time."

"Boston is so far away, Edward."

"I know, which is why I want you to come."

"No, that's why you want me to follow you like some pathetic lackey."

"I want you there because I love you and I don't like the idea of spending months apart form you."

"My life is here in Washington."

"So is mine." I reminded her. "You can start a new life..."

"No..my life is here in Washington, Edward."

"I heard you."

"You don't get it?"

"Help me."

"My Mom and sister are here." I looked down at the table. "My Dad is here and once he's out of treatment, we're going to start over again."

"You want to...start over with him after everything he did to you?"

"He's my Dad."

"Who almost killed you!"

"Because of the drinking!" We weren't getting anywhere.

"Please just tell me you'll at least think about going to Boston."

"I'll think about it."

"Promise?"

"I pinky promise to think about it."

I didn't know if I believed her or not.


	18. Shadow of a Goodbye

**Chapter Eighteen: Shadow of a Goodbye**

* * *

Bella and I hit a rough patch in our relationship, to say the least. I loved her and I wanted her to come with me to Boston. Or, at least the East Cost so she'd at least be kind of close to me. But she wasn't budging and I wish I could understand her better. She'd opened up to me a lot over the last few months, but she was still a pretty closed book. Not knowing where to turn next, I decided to call Jake and see if he'd give me some insight.

"I shouldn't be here." Jake sighed as he met me at a coffee shop close to the reservation. Bella was doing something with Alice and wouldn't be home for hours.

"I know," I nodded. "But I'm desperate here, Jake."

"Then ask Bella."

"You know as well as I do that she won't give me any answers." I reminded him. "Please, I'm just asking for something small. Why is she so opposed to going to Boston with me?"

"She never got closure." He finally whispered. "When the wake for her mom and sister was over, her Dad just...packed some bags and put her in the car."

"Just like that?"

"They stayed with us for a while." He told me. "I thought they were just here because they needed time and space, but then Charlie got the job at the station and bought their house."

"How long until he started drinking?"

"It only recently got bad. I think the older Bella got, the more she looked like the girls he lost." He bowed his head. "From the pictures, Bella looks just like her sister, who looked exactly like their mom. I guess...he just couldn't handle it."

"And that's why she's refusing to leave the state of Washington?"

"Like I said, her Dad packed a few bags of clothes but nothing else. He didn't even grab a picture."

"So, their old house in Seattle?"

"Abandoned." He shrugged. "My Dad tried convincing him to sell it, but he didn't want people going in and throwing stuff out and giving it away. And he didn't want to ever go back there. That's why they're struggling so much. Most of the money they do have goes to paying that mortgage so the bank doesn't take it."

"He can't feed his kid but he can pay the mortgage on a house he doesn't live in anymore?" I could hear the disgust in my voice.

"You don't know the hell they've gone through." And that was true. As hard as my Dad was on me, I couldn't ever imagine growing up without him. "He wants to do better by his only daughter, but it's really hard when half of your life was just ripped away from you."

"Are you telling me Bella needs closure with the house or her Dad?"

"Both." He nodded. "And...she desperately wants those pictures. She won't admit it, but I heard her crying herself to sleep every night when they lived here. When I asked her what could possibly make anything good again, she just whispered 'the pictures' and walked away."

"I hate that this happened to her." I shook my head.

"You love her?"

"More than anything."

"Don't push her to do things she doesn't want to." He whispered. "She never wanted to move away from Seattle and her Dad forced her to make a life here...and look how that turned out?"

"What do you mean?"

"Bella's great, but this isn't who she used to be." He explained. "She was cute and kind and wore pink and purple. She took ballet and hugged her Dad good morning and goodnight. She was the ultimate girl next door, along with her sister."

"And?"

"And this is never who she wanted to be."

"How do you know that?"

"I knew her before the accident." He dropped his head again. "I knew her Dad before the accident. They had the picture perfect family. The family everyone wanted. Even though they had their fair share of problems, they always put on a good front when their girls were around."

"What's your point?"

"Bella went dark when her Dad dragged her here, that's all I'm saying." He told me. "I love her and she's an amazing friend and person. So don't force her into anything. She'll never forgive you and you'll regret it. Big time."

And then I was left with a question there was no way I could ask him; had I forced Bella into this relationship?

"I need to go, man." He said abruptly and stood up. He reached for his wallet, but I told him not to worry about it. I sat at the diner for a little bit before paying the bill and tipping the waitress. I drove home in a kind of fog, wondering if I had forced her into it. I never wanted that. I loved her and wanted to be with her...but only if she wanted to be with me too. When I got home, Bella was still out and Mom was sitting in the kitchen, working on her computer.

"Mom?" I asked and she looked up at me.

"Everything okay?"

"I need to talk to you," I whispered and sat down across from her. I started telling her everything Jake had told me. About the funeral, about Charlie moving without even telling Bella. I told her that they still own their house in Seattle and how Charlie was still paying for it.

"I need to take her there, Mom."

"Edward,"

"She needs closure," I told her. "She needs to be able to go there and get what she'd never been able to do."

"You two are still in so much trouble."

"This isn't so we can go and have a lot of sex, Mom." I snapped. "I'm sorry, but that isn't my goal."

"I just don't know."

"Imagine if it were me," I said, desperate. "Imagine if Dad died and you pulled me away from everything I've ever known. Don't you'd think I'd need closure?"

"Your father will never go for it."

"He let Bella live here, and you didn't think he'd go for that either."

"That was before you two were almost arrested for...having sex in a public space."

"Please, Mom," I begged. "If she doesn't get this closure...she'll never move on. She'll be stuck here because she can't leave her Mom and sister."

"Edward,"

"I'm serious. She's stuck and she can't go anywhere other than a few hours away." I dropped my head. "I love her, Mom and I don't want to be all the way across the country."

"I'll bring it up, but I'm not talking him into it." She finally said. "If he says no, I'm not fighting him on it."

"Okay," I said as I heard a car pulling up in the driveway. I excused myself and went upstairs. I wasn't really ready to have the conversation I knew I needed to have with Bella. I needed to know if I forced her into this relationship, but I couldn't ask her. Not yet. Not after she'd had a good day with Alice. Not without really knowing what I wanted to say.

I busied myself with homework so I'd have an excuse to stay up in my room. I really did need to get things done, but it was kind of pointless. I was probably going to have to redo half of it since I was so distracted. Dinner was awkward, but the two of us ignored it and sat together while Mom talked about an upcoming sale at the store. When dinner was done, I went upstairs to take a shower...even though I'd taken one this morning.

I just needed time to figure out what to say.

After I was out of the shower, I knew I couldn't keep avoiding the inevitable. I pulled on a pair of PJ pants and went downstairs. My parents had loosened up on the rules, but we still had to keep the door wide open if we were in each other's rooms. When I got downstairs, she was braiding her hair. I smiled as I watched her and I just wanted all of her pain to go away. I wanted the smile she had on her face to always be there and I didn't want her to feel bad again.

"Bella?" I asked as I softly knocked. I knew this was going to be a hard conversation, so I shut the door halfway. My parents could still see us if they came downstairs...it's not like we were going to have sex with them in the house.

"What's up?" She asked as she finished the braid. I sat down on her bed and just looked at my feet, unsure where to go. "You're avoiding me."

"No," I lied and she sat down next to me. "I just...needed time."

"Time? For what?"

"Did I force you into this relationship?" I blurted out. I had planned on easing into the subject, but I guess that was out now.

"What?"

"Did you feel forced into this relationship?"

"Edward,"

"Because...I never wanted that. I want you to be with me because you want to be."

"I..."

"And not because you think you should be or I think you should be."

"Stop."

"And I love you, so much..." I trailed off. "But if you don't want to be with..."

"Stop!" She repeated, finally getting my attention. "Where is this coming from?"

"It's just been on my mind lately."

"I know you talked with Jake today."

Son of a bitch can't keep his mouth shut.

"Oh...ah..."

"I'm really good at getting information out of him." She smiled. "I hope he's never accused of a crime because he'll probably confess to something he didn't do."

"Bella."

"No, you didn't force me into this relationship."

"But..."

"I don't resent you, Edward. At all." She whispered, gripping my hand. "And I'm in this relationship for the same reason you are."

"You love yourself?" I laughed. The tension was getting too intense.

"Because I want to be." She snuggled into my side. "And because I love you."

"I'm so scared of losing you, Bella," I admitted. "I'm afraid I'm going to do something that makes you hate me."

"I could never hate you."

"You ever say that about your Dad?"

"Are you going to become a drunk and lock me in the bathroom?"

"No."

"Then I could never hate you." She said again. "Look...I'm fucked up. You knew this when you..."

"Fell in love with you."

"Yeah." She nodded. "I have a messy life and it's going to stay messy for a while. But...I am in this. You can trust me."

"It's not that I don't trust you."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm so in love with you, it scares me," I admitted. "I've never been in love before, and if I pushed you away..."

"Edward, I have never done anything I didn't want to do." She said. "Since Dad dragged us here."

"Then why won't you even consider starting new with me on the east cost?"

"I don't want to get into an argument." She huffed.

"Bella, we need to talk about this!" I reminded her. "Because my acceptance letter came yesterday."

"You didn't say anything?"

"Because I'm not going to Harvard if you're not with me," I told her and I could tell how surprised she was. "I can get a good education anywhere, but I can't be with you if you're all the way at the other side of the country."

"You're Dad is going to kill you."

"Stanford is just as good of a school." I'd gotten my letter from Stanford last week, but everyone knew that. It was just one of my backups so it never really mattered.

Until now.

"It's not Harvard."

"But, I wouldn't be so far from you." I shrugged.

"You'd be willing to throw your entire future away for me?"

"I wouldn't be throwing away my entire future." I pointed out. "Like I said, Stanford has always been my second choice. And, yes. I would be willing to if that's what it comes down to."

"No, I won't let you."

"Bella,"

"You've worked too hard and...fought with your father too much for you to give up Harvard."

"Then let me take you somewhere."

"I'm not going to Boston."

"I don't want to take you to Boston," I assured her. "Not yet anyway." I knew this was a bad idea. Mom hadn't talked to my dad yet, but I was eighteen. I could do whatever I wanted and they never needed to know. I'm sure Emmett and Alice would cover for us if I asked them to.

"Where are we going then?"

"Do you trust me?" I asked and she nodded. "Then, let me do this for you."

* * *

By some miracle, Mom was able to convince Dad to let me take Bella to Seattle for the weekend. I got her old houses address from Jake and made my plans. Bella and I spent that week in a weird silence. There wasn't anything to say. I was willing to give up Harvard for her and that was a huge thing. My Dad really would kill me if I didn't continue to Cullen Harvard Tradition.

Finally, after school on Friday, we packed up my car and started towards Seattle. The tension seemed to ease as the trip progressed, but I could see her tensing up when she realized we were getting closer to Seattle. Jake told me she hadn't been back at all, so even Seattle was a big thing for her.

"Where are we going?" She asked as I pulled off at the right exit.

"Be patient." I laughed. I continued to drive where the GPS told me to and eventually she caught on.

"No, Edward." She shook her head. "Turn this car around."

"Nope," I argued.

"Fine. I'm not going in."

"Okay." I nodded as I pulled onto her street. I pulled into the driveway of her old house and it was a mess. The yard was really overgrown, the paint was chipping, and the windows were boarded up.

"Why are we here?"

"Jake told me your Dad ripped you away from this house the night of their funeral," I explained. "You need closure, Bella."

"Don't tell me what I need and I don't need."

"Fine." I rolled my eyes. "Do you have closure?"

"This is ridiculous."

"Do you?"

"Of course I don't!" She finally admitted. "Dad took me from this house and we never looked back. I didn't even get to grab my favorite stuffed animal. He forgot it. It's still on my bed."

"Then, take my hand and come inside with me."

"The door is boarded shut."

"Well, it's not breaking and entering if the owner of the house does it." I smiled, handing her a crowbar. It took a little bit longer for her to grab the tool from my hand and open the car door. We walked up the walkway that was falling apart and stood at the front door.

"I haven't walked through this door since the last day I went to school in this district." She explained. "I didn't go back to school after the accident and then we moved. We used the garage after the funeral."

"Take your time."

"Stay close." She told me as she pried the piece of wood from the door. It was unlocked so once the wood was gone, we walked right through the door.

"Our neighbors boarded up the house for us." She explained as we stepped into the foyer. "They didn't think we were never coming back. They thought it would only be a few months." She sighed. "So did I since Dad didn't pack much for us."

We walked through the foyer and came to the living room. It was nice, other than all the dust and dirt around the place. There was a fireplace, and a wall covered in photos. She just stood in the middle of the room and looked around. She looked like a fish out of water and I wasn't exactly sure what to do. I took a step inside as she walked to the photo wall.

"This was my parents on their wedding day." She whispered.

"Your mom was beautiful."

"She was." She nodded and I grabbed her hand and gave it a tight squeeze. I looked at all the pictures and Jake was right. Bella looked just like her sister and her mom. It was kind of scary. She stood there for a few minutes, holding her breath as she looked carefully at the photos before pulling me out of the room.

We went through each room, carefully looking through it. The kitchen looked like someone had only gotten halfway through the dishes. There was no food in the fridge or in the sink, but the plates and cups were still in the sink.

Someone must have come and cleaned out the food.

Eventually, we made our way upstairs which was the part I could tell Bella was dreading the most. All of the doors were shut and I wondered which one she would open first. She took her time deciding and eventually pulled me all the way down the hall to the last door on the right.

"This was my room." She whispered as she let go. "I really loved the color purple if you couldn't tell." She smiled. I looked around and she wasn't lying. Everything was purple and I smiled when I saw the bear on her bed.

"This the bear?"

"I got that bear for my first birthday." She explained. "It was a gift from Lauren."

"That's why you wanted it so much."

"My parents told me when we got older than Lauren saved up every dollar my grandparents would give her and all the spare change Dad gave her at the end of the day. She started saving that money when my parents told her she was getting a little sibling."

"I wish I would have had a sibling to do nice things like that for me." I wrapped my arms around her from behind me.

"This is good." I felt a tear on my arm. "I needed this."


	19. Living Life on the Merry-Go-Round

**Chapter Nineteen: Living Life on the Merry-Go-Round**

* * *

"I remember the day the cops came to our house." Bella whispered as we sat on the living room floor. "I was sitting at the kitchen table, doing my homework. Dad was watching some sporting thing on the TV. Lauren wanted to get something for a school project and needed Mom's help."

"You don't have to..."

"I could tell Dad was getting worried. They only went to Target which isn't very far away." She continued. "But, he heated up leftovers for us and we had dinner together and the night went on. At seven fifty-two, the cops knocked. An hour and a half after they left the house. They were taking a shortcut home when it started storming and..."

"I'm so sorry, Bella," I whispered as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"They were so beat up which is why it took so long for the cops to come tell us what happened. They were on the scene within minutes, but they didn't know who it was until the matched the license plate with our registration. Dad planned the funeral, we had the funeral and then we left this house." She sobbed. "Within a week, I'd lost everything I'd ever known."

"I'm so sorry," I repeated, not knowing what else to say. When I'd told her I knew what happened to her mom and sister, I only knew a small fraction of the story. I couldn't have even imagined the pain she'd endured, but she never really talked about the accident. She was buried in grief and no one at our school had even bothered getting to know her when she first moved here.

I felt so guilty I never tried to be friends with her.

"I thought moving to Forks would be good for us." She explained. "Dad was falling apart, but the new job at the station helped a little bit. But, then he couldn't control his drinking and he lost that job and it's amazing we still have a house."

"I should have done something."

"What could you have done?" She asked.

"I should have at least made more of an effort to get to know you." I shrugged. "I tried, and you...you barked at me to get out of your way."

"What?" She giggled.

"I was saying hello and you told me to move." I smiled. "It was the very start of freshman year, and now I understand why you were so angry."

"Yeah...well..."

"And I never should have let Rosalie talk about you the way she did." I looked away. It still made me sick what she did the week I had mono.

"I liked her man."

"That's no excuse."

"No, but she's cruel and her life is sad."

"Everyone has hard lives."

"Her father is screwing his secretary on the side and her mother goes to Seattle every other weekend to see her boyfriend." Bella shrugged. "She has a reason to be a little messed up."

"Are you defending her?"

"No, but I understand her. I know what it's like to have your family completely fall apart."

"You're something else." I smiled, leaning in and kissing her cheek. "You ready to go back upstairs?" I asked gently. After visiting her room, she said she needed a break and the living room was a safe room in the house. She looked at me, took a deep breath, and nodded.

We walked back upstairs and we went all the way down again, but this time she stood at the door on the left. I carefully looked at the door as we stood in front of it. LAUREN was written in stickers and there were a few stickers on the white door. Bella smiled when she pointed to a sticker of a golden retriever and told me that this was the only dog they were ever allowed to have since mom was allergic.

"You can do this," I encouraged as I kissed her shoulder. She nodded and pushed the door open. From the second the door swung open, I could tell a teenage girl lived her. It was just like Tanya's, except this, was way more tasteful. Pictures were taped to every section of the wall, and the walls were a bright blue.

Bella stepped into the room and hugged herself.

"My parents redid her bedroom for her sixteenth birthday." She whispered. "They surprised her with it. I helped pick the color."

I stayed silent.

"Oh, God." She cried as she looked at one of the photos on the wall. "This was her boyfriend."

"Cute." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood a little. It didn't work, but I didn't expect it to.

"His name was Eric and...they were best friends before they started dating." She told me. "He was in love with her forever and he was very patient with her. She didn't want to ruin their friendship, but she eventually decided to chance it."

"How long had they been together?"

"Almost a year." She said. "They were going to go to school together. He ended up going to the University of Portland instead of Seattle U. He couldn't go without her."

"Have you talked to..."

"He didn't know where we'd moved to. No one did." She looked at another picture. "I think it was hardest to watch him at the funeral. He'd known my sister practically her entire life...he was a part of our family too."

"I couldn't imagine what he must have been going through." I hugged her tightly, not ever wanting to let her go.

"He loved my sister." She cried. "Stupid storm. It ruined so many people's lives." She shook her head. "He has a girlfriend now. Her name is Maggie and she's almost as pretty as my sister was."

"I'm sure he misses her all the time."

"I hope so." She took a deep breath. "This was always my favorite part of the house. Lauren was pretty great and always let me take refuge in here as long as I didn't mess anything up."

"I think your sister may have been a saint." I chuckled. "Whenever Tanya's sister tried to use her room, Tanya would flip."

"Lauren and I had our fights." She smiled. "Big ones. But...at the end of the day, we loved each other and my parents taught us to try and not go to bed angry. Things were usually resolved by the time I went to bed, and usually sooner."

"Your parents seemed like very smart people."

"It was mostly Mom."

"Sounds about right."

"Did I ever tell you about the time Lauren nearly beat up a sixth grader?"

"No, but please do tell."

"His name was Danny and I had a massive crush on him." She told me. "Well, I told him I liked him at the winter dance and he laughed in my face. I came home crying and Lauren was ready to pounce on him when we saw him at the rec center the next day." She smiled. "Dad literally had to hold her back."

"How old was she?"

"Fifteen. Danny was twelve." She smiled. "Both of them would be so disappointed in us."

"Bella,"

"I'm not trying to sound pitiful, but it's the truth." She shrugged. "Dad loved drinking beer when he got home from work, but he never used to get drunk before. And he never drank hard liquor either. He was just trying to figure how to cope with losing his wife and daughter. And now...he's a villain in everyone's eyes because he was violent when he was drunk. He's not the same person my mom married and this would crush her."

"What he did was wrong, but he was grieving when it first started." I tried to comfort her. "And then he just couldn't stop...he's not a bad person."

"All you've wanted to do since we met was throw him in jail."

"He's made some awful decisions," I told her. "And to be fair, I didn't understand the whole story when you first came to my house. For all I knew...he was just a violent, drunk who drank for the fun of it."

"He drinks to forget." She whispered. "There would be some days, he could barely remember my name and the idea that he'd had another daughter and a wife was mind boggling to him. Trust me, the alcohol does make the pain go away."

After Bella looked around her sister's room for a little bit longer, she told me she wasn't ready to go into her parent's bedroom. We left the house in order to get something to eat and when we got back, I set a bed for us up in the living room. Once we were both changed, we laid down together and just sat in peaceful silence.

I couldn't imagine what she was thinking as we got ready to sleep in her old house.

"Edward?" She asked after we'd been laying down together.

"Huh?"

"You need to go to Harvard."

"Bella, this weekend isn't about me."

"It's about me, which means it's about us." She sat up and turned to me. "We're a team. This affects me and so...it affects you too."

"I didn't bring you here so we could argue about Boston and Harvard." I sat up.

"This is your future, Edward."

"I know, but so are you."

"You can't make a decision based off of what I want to do later."

"You're my life, Bella." I shook my head. "How could I not make this decision without you?"

"I'm not arguing about this."

"You brought it up."

"I'm not having another argument, but you need to go to Harvard." She sighed. "You'll never forgive yourself if we break up and you ended up at Stanford."

"Stanford is my second choice."

"What's your first choice?"

"Bella,"

"What's your first choice, Edward?" She pushed.

"Harvard."

"I think this discussion is over then, isn't it?"

"Sometimes, I can't stand you." I sighed, laying back down and wrapping my arms around her.

"You love me, though."

"You're right," I laughed, kissing the top of her head.

Bella was right. As much as I wanted to hate the idea of going to Harvard, I didn't. I wanted to live the Cullen Legacy and go to Harvard and become a doctor. I wanted all of it, but I also didn't want to leave Bella behind. She was just as important to me as college was, and I could get a good education anywhere.

There was only one Bella.

* * *

We spent the rest of the weekend together at her old house. She cried almost the entire way home, but I knew this had been good for her. She'd gotten to get things she had to leave behind, including the teddy bear Lauren bought her. As we pulled onto our street, I noticed her looking down at the bear with an intense look on her face.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I smiled as we pulled into the driveway and I turned the car off.

"This...dumb bear caused me so much pain when we moved." She whispered. "It's just a stuffed animal, yet I was so heartbroken Dad hadn't grabbed it."

"I know."

"And now that I have it back...I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." I sighed in relief. "I feel like I can breathe again."

"I'm really glad you came with me."

"You didn't give me much of a choice." She rolled her eyes as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car. We carried our things back inside and I locked myself in my room to catch up on studying. AP exams were in a month and even though I'd gotten my acceptance letter, it wouldn't be enough for Dad.

It was never enough.

But, my study time came to a screaming halt when I heard Emmett's jeep pull into my driveway. I looked out my window and saw him running to the front door, and I panicked, thinking something had happened to Jasper. When I got downstairs, he was already pacing around my living room since Mom had answered the door for him.

"Dude..."

"I slept with her." He spit out.

"What?"

"I had sex with her."

"Who?"

"Rosalie."

"Wh-what?" I stuttered. He hadn't spoken to her since they broke up and last I heard, he was still pissed at her for being so terrible. "You...slept with Rosalie? How? When?"

"Last night." He sat down on the couch, but then stood back up and started pacing again. "We were both at Mike's party and we were both drinking. Jasper disappeared with Alice and you two were gone...things just happened."

"Are you two back together?"

"No. God no."

"Does she know that?" Rosalie was a lot of things, but she wasn't one to just have one night stands. And Emmett knew that.

"No," He whined. "What the fuck am I gonna do, Edward? I can't date her again."

"Go back in time?"

"You're really not helping."

"There isn't anything you really can do, Emmett." I shrugged. "You made your bed and now you have to sleep in it."

"Why her?" He groaned. "There were a ton of girls with to have drunken sex with. Why Rosalie?"

"You slept with Rosalie?" Bella asked from the stairs. Emmet shut his eyes and he looked like he'd been caught by his mother. He'd really grown to love Bella, and he knew how much Rosalie had hurt her.

"Drunkenly." He defended.

"You don't have to defend yourself to me, Emmett." She shrugged. "I'm going to Alice's." She said, coming over to me and giving me a kiss before grabbing my keys off the hook.

"Of all the girls at that party."

"She'll be okay, Emmett. You're allowed to sleep with whoever you want."

"But...Rose was so mean to her and I feel like I betrayed Bella. I feel awful."

"She'll be okay," I repeated.

He sat down again, burying his face in his hands. "Tell me something...anything...to help me take my mind off of this."

"Bella and I went to Seattle this weekend."

"I knew that."

"It was really sad and intense." I sighed. "I saw what her life was like before she moved here, and it was pretty damn perfect."

"Any idea if she's changed her mind about Boston?"

"No, but we just got back." I shrugged. "I need to give her some time to process. Her Dad is getting out of rehab in a few weeks."

"Whoa,"

"I have no idea whether she'll stay with until graduation, but I think once we graduate she's going to leave no matter what."

"Really?"

"She never wanted to live here." I reminded him. "As much as I know she's enjoyed it, she's loyal to her father. And if he's clean, there won't be any excuses for her to not go back to him."

"This is so messed up." He shook his head. "I mean, drunk or not, he beat her."

"I know."

"And I know he's all she has, but...he beat her."

"I know."

"He could have killed her if Jake hadn't called you."

"I know." I sighed. "No matter what happens, no one wins."

"Boston would be good for her."

"You think?"

"She can't move on as long as she's close to her dad and as long as she's close to Seattle."

"She thinks it would be wrong to leave Washington," I explained. "She thinks it would be betraying her mom and sister because they can never leave."

"She needs help."

"Emmett,"

"I'm just being honest, Edward. As good as you are to her, she needs help that you can't give her. Professional help."

"I know," I admitted. I'd known for a while that she need professional help that no one but a psychologist can give her. "But, you know her as well as I do and know she'd never go for it. She's too stubborn."

"Yeah," He sighed, knowing I was right.

I spent the rest of the night, gathering the courage to talk to my Dad about getting Bella professional help. He and my mother knew that her mom and sister had been killed in a car accident, but they didn't know how badly it had taken over her life. Just as I was about to go to Dad's office to talk, Bella knocked on my bedroom door.

"You know you don't need to knock," I smiled as she stepped into my room and I left the door opened, knowing she'd be kicked out if I closed it even a little. "What's up?"

"Boston scares the hell out of me," She admitted.

"I know."

"And I don't know if I can do it."

"I know," I nodded even though I didn't want to admit it.

"But..." She trailed off, standing up and walking over to me, wrapping her wrists around my waist and lying her head on my chest. "I love you and we should at least try to make it work. Right?"

I was in shock. Bella had been fighting this for months and one trip to her childhood home had already changed her mind? I was kind of skeptical, but when she lifted her head and looked up at me, she looked genuine. She looked like she really wanted to try and make Boston work for me...for us.

"Really?"

"I've never been in love before, but I know that I probably won't feel this way about anyone else," She whispered. "And I know we're young and anything could happen and going with you could be a total waste but...if we don't try then I'll spend a lot of time regretting what could have happened."

"I love you," I smiled, cupping her cheeks with my hand and gently kissing her. "But I don't want you coming with me unless you're absolutely sure."

"I'm sure," She nodded immediately without a second thought. "I love you and that's enough."

"It's not like we'll never come home," I assured her. "We'll be home for Christmas and summer. And...we can fly your Dad out every so often for you to see him."

"You promise?"

"Of course," I nodded. "Look, I'm definitely not your Dad's biggest fan, but if he's gotten the help and he doesn't relapse then...I have to trust your judgment when it comes to you. I'll never stop protecting you, though, so I hope you can accept that."

"He's a totally different person when he's not drunk," She whispered. "He was the best Dad a girl could have asked for and he did try when we first moved here, but..."

"Grief got the better of him," She nodded. "I promise to give him the benefit of the doubt and I'll give him a chance as long as he stays sober."

"Thank you," She whispered. "Edward?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we crazy?"

"Why would we be crazy?"

"For planning our future like this even though we're only eighteen years old," She shrugged and I had to smile at her. She bit her lip and I leaned in to give her a kiss.

"I think we're all a little crazy,"


	20. Quick Author's Note

**Author's Note**

 _Hey, guys! So I am so so so sorry to do this but I am officially putting Uncharted Territory on hold. I had so many ideas for this story when I started but I'm just not having that much fun with it right now. I would rather focus on Fixer Upper, One Life and a new story I'm planning. I do love these characters, though so I will hopefully finish it one day. My heart just isn't in it right now and I need time to think of where this story is going. I do not want to continue writing it because I think I have to._

 _Just please be patient with me. I really do want to finish it._

 _Thanks for being awesome and understanding!_

 **-SpringHiller09**


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